Episode 3 James May's Cars of the People


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Transcript


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This is a model of KITT,

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from the 1980s TV series Knight Rider with the Hoff.

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And this is the 1966 jet-powered Batmobile.

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The fantasy cars of TV and cinema

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were formed by our dreams of the car of the future.

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We liked the idea of a car that would talk to us,

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that knew where it was going, that would fly

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and we wondered if it could actually drive itself.

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Did anything come of the wild imaginings

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of the creators of these things?

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Did any of it become reality to filter down

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to the real cars of the people?

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This week, innovation.

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Making an impression where it counts.

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It's doing terrible things to my testicles.

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A funny man lends me his funny car.

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-So it would've made a futuristic noise and a great smell.

-Exactly.

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'Engineering.

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'Technology.'

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This is the hardest thing I've ever done.

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'And safety.'

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All this, plus...a bird.

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Here's a bird.

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'This week, before I deal with the people's dreams,

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'I want to start by talking about me for a change.'

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This is a BMW i3, an electric car.

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It's my car.

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If you haven't driven a modern electric car, it is worth a go,

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because it's mainly like driving a car, there's no gearbox,

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because you don't need one and some of the controls

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are slightly different, but it does feel strangely enlightened.

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'And as it's my car, it's even getting to know me a little.'

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I can have a conversation with it, of sorts.

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TONE Phonebook.

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-CAR:

-Phonebook. Please say a name.

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World's biggest.

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-Did you mean world's biggest...

-CAR HORN

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Yes, I did, but I don't really want to talk to Jeremy, do I? No, cancel.

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TONE

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There you go.

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Apart from sharing my opinions, this car, like many of its rivals,

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is bristling with user-friendly hi-tech.

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And like all other electric cars, it's powered by a simple battery,

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without the need for valves, pistons or gears.

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# Just the two of us... #

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You plug it in, and you plug in everything these days -

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your phone, your tablet, your toothbrush.

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Your ladyshave, whatever.

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I don't have a ladyshave, I just know that you recharge them.

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KNIGHT RIDER THEME TUNE

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'It's simple, yet sophisticated.

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'It'll even park itself...

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'while I'm doing my legs.'

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I'm not touching the pedals. I'm not touching the steering wheel.

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It's doing it by itself!

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It's witchcraft!

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Are you watching?

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It's just going to go forwards a bit and then...

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Ah. TONE

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It's good, isn't it?

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'Electric vehicles like this are at the forefront

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'of a 21st-century battle

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'to decide how our cars will be powered in the future.

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'And although rivals include the fuel cells, solar energy,

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'biofuel and liquid gas, I quite fancy its chances.'

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It's electric.

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Smooth, quiet, clean.

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Modern.

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Or is it?

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Let's go back 100 years or so.

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Here is an early car from 1909. It's a Baker.

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It looks a bit like a horse-drawn carriage

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and, if you look inside the interior,

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it's described by the current owner as a bit frou-frou,

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or rather like a Victorian brothel.

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But here's the interesting thing -

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it's electric.

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We modern people like to think that our electric dreams

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are a product of our hi-tech world.

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But in large parts of America in 1900,

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the electric car was the bestselling car of the people.

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It was as fashionable as top hats...

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and TB.

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'But, just like today, it wasn't clear which propulsion method

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'would drive the car of the future.

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'And the electric car faced some high-pressure competition.'

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This is a Stanley Model 740D Roadster,

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and as you can probably guess from the chuffing sound,

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it's steam-powered.

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Right, now this is like a car,

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in that it has a steering wheel in front of me,

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a rather vague one, I've got to be honest.

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Everything else about it is quite baffling.

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The pedals are all wrong, there's lots of lovely instruments,

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but they're talking about mysterious things.

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We've got fuel system pressure, boiler pressure,

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cylinder lubrication, oil flow, all sorts of things.

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Hang on a minute, open the regulator.

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Climb this hill.

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So all this stuff, this isn't steam punk, this is actually steam.

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Duba-duba-duba-duba, duba-duba-duba-duba...

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A steam car works in pretty much the same way as any other steam engine.

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Water is boiled in, well, a boiler, by kerosene burners and then steam -

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and I mean proper, superheated steam at 300 degrees plus,

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not the poncey vapour that comes out of your kettle -

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that is forced into cylinders, where it pushes pistons along.

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That then turns a shaft, which drives the wheels.

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That's all we've ever wanted out of all these sources of motive power,

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a rotating shaft. That's it.

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The brakes don't work, the steering is terrible,

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and you do worry that it's going to blow up.

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But, for the people of the early 20th century,

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steam power was a trusted friend.

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Steam had been around since the 18th century, it had industrialised us,

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it powered mill engines and mine pumps and, of course,

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it gave us the miracle of the railways.

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Steam was understood.

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A steam engine will really run on just about anything that will burn.

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They can go very, very wrong and become very, very sloppy

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and they still work.

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Steam power, it seemed, was not only the past but also the future.

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In America, sales began to outstrip electric cars.

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But coming up fast in their rear-view mirrors was a rival system

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destined to rule the world.

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ROCK MUSIC

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This is a Mercedes-Benz AMG DT.

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It has a four litre V8, developing 510 horsepower.

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Is that a lot? It is quite a lot, actually.

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It does 193mph,

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goes from 0 to 60 in under four seconds. It's amazing.

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And it runs on petrol.

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As indeed did the world's first true car.

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Back in 1885, when Karl Benz ran the engine of his Motorwagen

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for the first time, he described the sound it made

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as "the music of the future."

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He was right, wasn't he?

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Because if the music of the 20th century has a dominant note,

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it's that of the internal combustion engine.

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'And that's odd,

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'because the internal combustion engine is rather demanding.'

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The petrol engine in this car has to have sophisticated electronics,

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it has to have an oil pump, it has to have lubrication,

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it has to have valves going up and down and springs

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and it has to have a gearbox, blah, blah, blah.

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So, why? Why have we ended up relying so much on this thing

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when an electric motor in particular is so simple?

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The answer is not to be found in the engine,

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but at the other end of the car.

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In here is a petrol tank holding around 80, 85 litres of fuel.

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Not a very big volume, to be honest.

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That much beer would only keep the production crew

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of this programme going for about an hour and a half, two hours.

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But as petrol, it will drive this high-performance car

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all the way from my house in London

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right up into the Highlands of Scotland.

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That is very energy dense.

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Fossil fuels were a great gift from nature.

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If that were to be a battery,

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it would have to be about three or four times the size of the car

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to do the same job.

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The energy that a few gallons of oil can yield

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would send cars far across the world.

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And filling stations were quick to spring up everywhere.

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By contrast, national electricity grids simply didn't exist,

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leaving the electric car confined to the city.

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But what about the people's favourite, steam?

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Railways had conquered the globe. Surely the steam car would prevail.

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The steam car of the early 20th century

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was doomed by several factors.

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Ford's moving production line meant that his Model T,

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his car for the great multitude, came down in price constantly,

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so by the time this car came out, the Model T could be yours

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for not much more than a 10th of the price.

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And the Model T, of course,

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as well as making the car an affordable proposition,

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also cemented internal combustion as the accepted way.

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Pish.

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Infrastructure, economics

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and Ford's mass production methods, then,

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would decisively tip the balance.

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By the 1920s, the battle was as good as settled.

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The petrol age had dawned and its god was the piston engine.

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The image of an engine is quite important

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to the 20th century iconography, I'd say.

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Blokes in particular will stand around looking at the engine

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of a car as if it will inform them of something.

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It's a bit like the way they are with weapons,

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it's because they know it empowers them.

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Empowers them enormously.

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Look at this. ENGINE REVS

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I feel empowered.

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And there are a lot of people in the world who say that oil is a menace,

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it will destroy us, it will ruin the atmosphere

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and destroy wildlife and all the rest of it.

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In which case, I say, let's put it cars like this

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and get rid of it.

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Cos then it won't be a problem any more, will it?

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Clean or not, oil had got us hooked

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and had given us the mobility we craved.

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And, while engines slowly grew more powerful and reliable,

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the car itself became a catalyst for rapid change.

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Towns, cities, even nations were built around its requirements.

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-COMMENTATOR:

-Roads are getting better.

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Many highways have been designed that eliminate dangers and delays.

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But, by the early '50s, there was a new kid on the block,

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leaving the piston engine trailing wistfully in its slipstream.

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Welcome...

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to the jet age.

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PLANE ROARS

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MUSIC: Richard III by Supergrass

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The jet engine would advance aviation in one giant leap.

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But no-one would be daft enough to suggest a jet-powered car.

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ENGINE WHOOSHES

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-This must be one of the world's rarest cars.

-I think it is.

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-Certainly one of the world's rarest production cars.

-I think it is.

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ENGINE WHOOSHES It's a great noise though, isn't it?

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-It must have seemed very futuristic then.

-It still does.

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MUSIC: Apache by The Shadows

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'This is the world's last working example

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'of the Chrysler turbine car.

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'And, if you haven't already guessed,

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'it belongs to the superstar comedian Jay Leno.'

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The car is 100% original.

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Most jet cars of the period,

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like, General Motors had two or three jet cars,

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and they had the bubble top. And they looked like fighter planes.

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I mean, the jet engine itself was still a relatively new

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and remarkable thing. Most people still didn't fly anywhere,

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so to have a car come down your street in your small town

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that made the same noise as a fighter aircraft, that's...

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-Yeah.

-That's incredible.

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'The car works by sucking in air to mix with a fine spray of fuel,

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'which, when ignited, drives a turbine,

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'sending power to the wheels.

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'Only 55 were ever built.'

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I mean, this does look outrageous to us now,

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because this is a bit of very flamboyant 1960s American design.

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-Yeah.

-But this would have been

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-a mainstream-looking car, wouldn't it?

-Sure, yeah.

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You could have built this car with a V8 engine

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-and it would have sold.

-Yeah.

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They weren't trying to propose that the gas turbine car

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was an exotic, rarefied supercar or anything like that.

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It was going to be the way your normal family car was powered.

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-Right.

-That was the idea, wasn't it?

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-COMMENTATOR:

-The turbine car is not a special car

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designed for limited types of performance.

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This is a car for people.

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For doctors, housewives, schoolteachers.

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Average people with average,

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as well as extreme, driving requirements.

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'Chrysler wasn't sure how a huge jet that could generate temperatures

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'in excess of 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit

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'would perform in a family car.

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'So they loaned them to brave members of the public

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'to try out for three months.'

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Imagine, in this litigious society,

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having the general public do your R&D work.

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-Yeah.

-You just... You give it to some guy.

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-"Oh, tell us what happens." You know?

-Yeah.

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"Oh, I've burned to a crisp." "Well, sorry, mate."

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THEY LAUGH

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-The point of trying something like this is to see what happens.

-Yeah.

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It's not a demonstration. You're not saying, "This is the future."

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You're saying, "Maybe this is the future,

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"but we won't know unless we try it."

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'I'm desperate to see under the bonnet

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'and to soften Jay up, so that he lets me drive it.'

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Here she is. This is all air filter right here.

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-This is what keeps it quiet. They're massive things.

-Yeah. They are huge.

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Well, the programme ran for a long time. It started in the early '50s.

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And in '54, they drove a turbine car, disguised as a regular car,

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across the country. So the idea was to come up with something

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that could get the job done

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and still be reasonably, er...

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..sensible in price.

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'The turbine, however, could not compete

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'with the cheap and reliable piston engine.'

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This was hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars more.

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And plus, the V8 had been...

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pretty much perfected.

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It is interesting actually, the V8 engine, well, the piston engine,

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is actually a bit like the burger, cos you have other...

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We started to eat Japanese food in Britain and America.

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And we had Chinese food

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and we experimented with Indian and wholemeal.

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-But the burger doesn't go away, doesn't it?

-No.

-There's still

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-millions of burgers every day.

-You'll always have the burger.

-Yeah.

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The V8 is a burger.

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With cheese.

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'Now that I've managed to subtly shift Jay's attention

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'onto the best baps in LA, it's time to hit him with the big one.'

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This is a question one man shouldn't ask another,

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I know, but...

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can I have a go in your turbine car?

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It's a bit unorthodox, but...

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-..I guess it'll be OK.

-Thanks.

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Thanks, buddy. We won't tell anybody.

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Right, quick situation report.

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I'm doing 3,300rpm.

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-No, 33,000.

-Sorry, 33,000.

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It's difficult to get your head round, isn't it?

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-Listen to that!

-Yeah.

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The great advantage to this car was it could run on any fuel

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that burned with oxygen.

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But when they took it to Mexico, they ran it on tequila.

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When they took it to France,

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they filled the tank with Chanel No.5.

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-Quite pleasant driving around.

-So that's actually true?

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-I always thought that was a bit of a myth.

-That is true. No, no, no.

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It's like a car full of hookers going down the road

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with Chanel No.5. "What's going on?" You know?

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So it would have made a futuristic noise and a great smell?

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Right, exactly.

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I can't imagine why didn't catch on.

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'There was one fuel, however, that the turbine car couldn't handle.

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'It was, ironically,

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'the very fuel that had kick-started the petrol age in the first place.'

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The disadvantage was the turbine could not run on lead,

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so you couldn't fill it up at the normal gas station,

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cos the only gas available in America at the time was leaded gas.

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-Right, so the only thing it couldn't tolerate was the lead?

-Right.

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Cos that would damage the blade. That's a shame.

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It's one of those things that,

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given a few slight tweaks to history,

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it might have worked.

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-We might all have been driving something like turbine cars.

-Yeah.

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MUSIC: Tequila by The Champs

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So, like the early electric car,

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thwarted by an electricity grid that wasn't there,

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the turbine car came just too soon for the advent of unleaded petrol.

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In the end, Chrysler recalled and crushed

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almost all of these experimental cars.

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# Tequila! #

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But surely innovation would be the way to go?

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Especially for carmakers facing slow-off-the-mark competitors.

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There now follows a tale of two sports car makers -

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British and German.

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One of them would plug away bloody-mindedly at outmoded ideas

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about car design from the middle of the 20th century

0:17:150:17:19

and keep redesigning the same basic car over and over again

0:17:190:17:22

for decade after decade.

0:17:220:17:25

But the other, the other one was an innovator,

0:17:250:17:28

experimenting with new materials, lightweight design,

0:17:280:17:31

flexible, small volume manufacturing.

0:17:310:17:34

It would develop compact, powerful engines of its own

0:17:340:17:37

and push at the boundaries of contemporary styling

0:17:370:17:39

and even contemporary colour schemes.

0:17:390:17:42

'One would go on to greatness.

0:17:420:17:44

'The other would disappear.

0:17:440:17:46

'And you can probably guess how this goes.'

0:17:460:17:48

Or can you?

0:17:480:17:49

Because the radical freethinkers

0:17:490:17:51

were TVR of Blackpool.

0:17:510:17:53

And the stuck-ists were Porsche.

0:17:530:17:55

It's in 1963 that things become interesting,

0:17:590:18:02

because that's when Porsche revealed this -

0:18:020:18:05

the first of the 911s.

0:18:050:18:06

Now, Porsche would go on to make many different cars, of course,

0:18:090:18:12

but this is the one that would cement their reputation

0:18:120:18:16

over five decades and counting.

0:18:160:18:18

'For a new sports car, the 911 was already pretty old-fashioned.

0:18:210:18:25

'Not least the air-cooled rear-mounted engine -

0:18:250:18:27

'a layout that dated back to the 1930s.'

0:18:270:18:30

This was thought to be the right way to do it.

0:18:310:18:33

Engine at the back, so the drivetrain is simple.

0:18:330:18:36

Nice, a lot of space inside

0:18:360:18:38

and a more aerodynamic nose.

0:18:380:18:40

This layout is also...

0:18:400:18:42

What would be the right word?

0:18:420:18:44

Er, wrong.

0:18:440:18:45

Because the engine is right at the back, behind the rear wheels,

0:18:450:18:48

it acts as a sort of pendulum when you're going around bends.

0:18:480:18:51

This is at the root of the 911's reputation for handling trickiness.

0:18:510:18:55

TYRES SQUEAL

0:18:550:18:57

'But what about the boy racers from Blackpool?'

0:18:570:19:00

This is a 1965 TVR Griffith.

0:19:030:19:06

I know what you're thinking -

0:19:070:19:08

you're thinking, "Here he goes again!

0:19:080:19:10

"He's going to kick the wheels off

0:19:100:19:11

"another great British motoring institution."

0:19:110:19:14

But no.

0:19:140:19:15

I liked TVR.

0:19:150:19:17

TVR are a bit left-field.

0:19:180:19:20

TVR were a laugh.

0:19:200:19:22

But, look, we're in the same year.

0:19:240:19:27

Porsche has given us a rather archaic and very expensive car

0:19:270:19:30

that does 131mph

0:19:300:19:33

and takes over eight seconds to get to 60.

0:19:330:19:36

The TVR does 160mph.

0:19:360:19:39

It gets to 60 in less than half the time

0:19:390:19:42

and it costs less.

0:19:420:19:44

'TVR were all about new thinking, new design

0:19:460:19:49

'and affordable power and performance.

0:19:490:19:53

'Their aim was to appeal directly

0:19:530:19:55

'to the young male driver of the time.

0:19:550:19:57

'And to do away with the old fuddy-duddy notions.

0:19:570:20:00

'Like clothes for its sales team, evidently.'

0:20:000:20:03

ENGINE REVS

0:20:030:20:04

Blackpool uber alles!

0:20:060:20:08

'The cars were certainly thrilling,

0:20:080:20:10

'but TVR would be in a permanent state of revolution.

0:20:100:20:14

'There was the Tasmin, the 400, the Griffith, the Cerbera,

0:20:140:20:17

'the Tuscan and the outrageous Sagaris.

0:20:170:20:21

'Models came thick and fast,

0:20:210:20:23

'costing the company a fortune in start-up costs.'

0:20:230:20:26

Meanwhile, boring old Porsche

0:20:290:20:31

just continue to make the 911.

0:20:310:20:34

I mean, the wheel arches swelled a bit,

0:20:340:20:36

the engine got a bit bigger, but nothing really changed.

0:20:360:20:39

It took them until 1987

0:20:390:20:41

to fit a decent gearbox, for Pete's sake.

0:20:410:20:45

This one, in the 1964 car...

0:20:450:20:47

is rubbish. And I mean rubbish.

0:20:470:20:51

I can't even find it half the time.

0:20:510:20:53

'Finally, in 1993, it was completely restyled.

0:20:540:20:58

'But it came out looking exactly like a 911,

0:20:580:21:02

'with the engine at the back.'

0:21:020:21:04

I mean, this has been going on for decades.

0:21:040:21:06

Other people have realised the folly of the rear-engined car

0:21:060:21:10

and thought, "No, actually, we were wrong about that.

0:21:100:21:12

"It needs to be in the middle or at the front."

0:21:120:21:14

But Porsche would just go,

0:21:140:21:15

IN GERMAN ACCENT: "Nein, nein.

0:21:150:21:17

"Nein, should be at the back.

0:21:170:21:18

"We will stick with it and make it work."

0:21:180:21:20

And they have done, all credit to them,

0:21:200:21:22

but why not just...

0:21:220:21:23

..put it up there!

0:21:240:21:26

'TVR may have had the engine right,

0:21:300:21:32

'but that was the only part of the business plan that worked.

0:21:320:21:35

'The constant chopping and changing lead to confusion,

0:21:350:21:38

'profit warnings and a string of failed attempts to revive the name.

0:21:380:21:42

'The result was chaos.'

0:21:420:21:45

TVR folklore is a bit too good to check, to be honest.

0:21:450:21:48

It includes stories about windows falling out,

0:21:480:21:51

about the owner's dogs taking a bite out of a polystyrene styling model

0:21:510:21:56

and then the results being incorporated in the final car.

0:21:560:21:59

And then there's the one about the workforce scrawling rude messages

0:21:590:22:03

about each other on the bare glass fibre body works on the inside.

0:22:030:22:06

So that, one day, when the car came to be repaired or restored,

0:22:060:22:09

you'd take a piece of trim off and then, yes,

0:22:090:22:12

you'd discovered that Yozza was indeed a right...

0:22:120:22:15

'Porsche, on the other hand, would spend over half a century

0:22:170:22:20

'cautiously evolving the 911.

0:22:200:22:23

'And earning billions in profit.

0:22:230:22:25

'Today, a 911 is one of the world's most coveted artefacts.

0:22:250:22:30

'Who'd have thought it?'

0:22:300:22:31

Just have a look at the astonishing variety that TVR produced

0:22:330:22:37

over the years. Model after model.

0:22:370:22:40

Modification after modification, ever bigger engines.

0:22:400:22:42

Incredible, dinosaur-inspired paint schemes.

0:22:420:22:46

And, if you went back to the 1960s,

0:22:460:22:47

the other end of history's telescope, you would say,

0:22:470:22:50

"Yes, TVR is going to win this one.

0:22:500:22:53

"Not Porsche, with the dreary old 911.

0:22:530:22:56

"TVR with all its innovation, all its soul, all its spirit."

0:22:560:22:59

And yet, nothing has been made by TVR

0:22:590:23:03

since 2006.

0:23:030:23:05

'So, extreme innovation,

0:23:060:23:08

'as Chrysler and TVR discovered,

0:23:080:23:10

'could be a risky venture.

0:23:100:23:12

'But it's nowhere near as dicey as copying that rear engine idea

0:23:130:23:16

'and doing it really badly.

0:23:160:23:18

'This is the Chevrolet Corvair,

0:23:200:23:22

'a car that paved the way for some of the most important

0:23:220:23:26

'safety innovations in history of the car.

0:23:260:23:29

'Although, that wasn't Chevrolet's intention.'

0:23:290:23:32

This is actually the second generation of the Corvair

0:23:340:23:37

and it is quite a pleasant, nicely sorted car,

0:23:370:23:40

but it wasn't always that way.

0:23:400:23:41

MUSIC: Bonanza Theme

0:23:410:23:43

'The first generation Corvair

0:23:430:23:45

'was deftly launched in 1960 by Michael Landon...'

0:23:450:23:48

Hi, I'm Mike Landon.

0:23:480:23:49

'..from Bonanza and The Little House on the Prairie.

0:23:490:23:53

'The trouble was, the real cowboys weren't the ones behind the wheels.'

0:23:530:23:57

Yippee-yow! Corvair!

0:23:570:23:59

That earlier car had a couple of horrific design flaws.

0:24:010:24:05

One was that it had the obvious rear weight bias

0:24:050:24:08

that you get with a rear-engined car.

0:24:080:24:10

But it also didn't have a much-needed antiroll bar

0:24:100:24:13

on the front suspension.

0:24:130:24:15

And that was because that would have added a bit of cost,

0:24:150:24:18

so the management at Chevrolet thought...

0:24:180:24:20

"Well, we'll just leave it off."

0:24:200:24:22

'As a result, the handling was a nightmare, especially on bends.

0:24:230:24:27

'But, rather than fix the problem, Chevrolet simply improvised.'

0:24:270:24:31

They addressed this, to some extent, by fiddling with the tyre pressures.

0:24:310:24:35

They actually recommended tyre pressures outside of the limits

0:24:350:24:39

advised by the tyre manufacturer.

0:24:390:24:42

'And this cavalier approach meant that Chevrolet

0:24:420:24:44

'would start losing their customers...permanently.'

0:24:440:24:47

Under certain conditions going round corners, one of the rear wheels

0:24:470:24:51

on the rather crude swingarm suspension could tuck under

0:24:510:24:55

and you would suffer sudden and catastrophic oversteer.

0:24:550:24:59

And if you're not familiar with these technical terms,

0:25:020:25:04

oversteer is when you go through the hedge backwards.

0:25:040:25:08

'Things got so bad that even the ads for this deathtrap

0:25:080:25:11

'seemed to be offering you a one-way trip to the afterlife.'

0:25:110:25:14

-VOICEOVER:

-There's a car down there

0:25:140:25:16

that can make you feel you're way up here.

0:25:160:25:19

'By 1965, Chevrolet faced over 100 separate lawsuits

0:25:190:25:23

'from the Corvair's victims.

0:25:230:25:25

'But still they did nothing.

0:25:250:25:27

'Until one man decided to take them,

0:25:270:25:30

'and the entire motor industry, to task.'

0:25:300:25:32

Now I must bring up the most famous, or perhaps notorious,

0:25:340:25:38

bit of consumer campaigning in the whole of history.

0:25:380:25:41

Not just the history of the car.

0:25:410:25:43

It was the publication in 1965

0:25:430:25:46

of Ralph Nader's Unsafe At Any Speed.

0:25:460:25:49

Now, Ralph Nader believed that the American carmakers

0:25:490:25:52

knew about many of the dangerous failings of their cars,

0:25:520:25:56

but couldn't be bothered to deal with them.

0:25:560:25:58

He talked about all sorts of things,

0:25:580:25:59

from sharp edges on interiors,

0:25:590:26:02

to gearboxes that could be pushed into reverse

0:26:020:26:04

while you were going along and so on and so on.

0:26:040:26:07

But, most famously, he addressed the issue of the Corvair.

0:26:070:26:10

'And, with road deaths from all vehicles

0:26:100:26:13

'topping 47,000 in the US alone,

0:26:130:26:16

'Nader had the people's overwhelming support.

0:26:160:26:19

-COMMENTATOR:

-When the New York motor show opened this Easter,

0:26:190:26:22

the city's doctors paraded with placards of protest

0:26:220:26:24

about the lack of safety features on the new models from Detroit.

0:26:240:26:28

What he effectively investigated was legislation covering the design,

0:26:290:26:34

especially the safety features, of cars.

0:26:340:26:37

For the first time, he forced the authorities to take an interest

0:26:370:26:42

in what car manufacturers were getting up to.

0:26:420:26:44

'As a result, the Corvair, and many other lethal cars, were modified.

0:26:470:26:51

'So it's thanks to Ralph that I can happily drive this one

0:26:510:26:54

'around this bend without the need

0:26:540:26:55

'for my emergency pair of brown trousers.'

0:26:550:26:58

What was becoming clear was that the honeymoon of our love affair

0:26:580:27:02

with the car was coming to an end.

0:27:020:27:05

It would no longer be allowed

0:27:050:27:06

to blunder through the world unchallenged.

0:27:060:27:09

'But the biggest safety innovation of them all was made by a man

0:27:100:27:14

'from a far-off country

0:27:140:27:15

'abusing eggs from his company's fridge.

0:27:150:27:18

'And what he'd achieve would save more lives

0:27:200:27:23

'than any single innovation in the history of motoring.'

0:27:230:27:26

The year 1959 saw a great leap forward

0:27:260:27:29

in the safety of a car's occupants.

0:27:290:27:32

Something that is reckoned to reduce the risk of death in a collision

0:27:320:27:36

by at least 50%.

0:27:360:27:38

And you ought to be able to guess what it is,

0:27:380:27:40

because you can see it in this picture.

0:27:400:27:43

Yes, man on the sofa in his underpants,

0:27:450:27:47

eating the takeaway pizza.

0:27:470:27:48

Yes, correct.

0:27:480:27:49

It is the safety belt.

0:27:490:27:51

Most specifically, the three-point safety belt.

0:27:510:27:54

And this car, the Volvo Amazon,

0:27:540:27:56

was the first car to have such a thing fitted as standard.

0:27:560:28:00

'Volvo's seatbelt pioneer, Nils Bohlin, thought long and hard

0:28:030:28:06

'about where the straps should go.

0:28:060:28:09

'And he'd worked out that the three-point system was the best way

0:28:090:28:12

'of comfortably restraining the human body during an impact.'

0:28:120:28:16

The inventor took a very philanthropic view of his idea

0:28:170:28:20

and decided not to patent it,

0:28:200:28:22

but to make it freely available to all carmakers.

0:28:220:28:25

Very nice.

0:28:250:28:26

'But, like the stubborn carmakers

0:28:270:28:29

'who refused to iron out a dangerous fault,

0:28:290:28:31

'many normal people were against an invention

0:28:310:28:34

'that could save their lives.'

0:28:340:28:36

MUSIC: Sinnerman by Nina Simone

0:28:360:28:40

Weirdly, there was a lot of resistance to these seat belts.

0:28:400:28:43

I can remember it, actually, as a small boy.

0:28:430:28:45

People saying that they believed they would be thrown clear

0:28:450:28:48

in an accident and that's what would save them.

0:28:480:28:51

But, actually, it is a very, very simple idea

0:28:510:28:54

that is reckoned to have saved over a million lives already.

0:28:540:28:58

'Volvo's gift to the world was a generous one, but it also created

0:28:590:29:03

'a new marketing strategy that the people's car hadn't known before.'

0:29:030:29:07

The standard seatbelt was the beginning of a peculiar initiative

0:29:070:29:11

by Volvo, which is...

0:29:110:29:13

the idea of selling safety.

0:29:130:29:16

Volvo would go on to produce rubber bumpers, crumple zones,

0:29:170:29:21

all sorts of stuff that people liked.

0:29:210:29:24

'Good for the people and great for Volvo's sales figures.'

0:29:240:29:27

MUSIC: My Silver Lining by First Aid Kit

0:29:270:29:30

All credit to Volvo -

0:29:330:29:34

they have stuck to their guns, because, fairly recently

0:29:340:29:37

they announced that, by 2020,

0:29:370:29:39

no-one would be killed in a Volvo.

0:29:390:29:41

That's a hell of a claim, isn't it?

0:29:420:29:44

Volvos invention came just at the right time.

0:29:460:29:50

'As the '60s progressed, car ownership was mushrooming

0:29:500:29:53

'and that meant rocketing accident rates.

0:29:530:29:55

'Across the world, the car needed more space.'

0:29:560:30:00

Even when the car was still quite a new idea,

0:30:060:30:09

there were people who realised there would, one day, be too many of them.

0:30:090:30:13

Henry Ford and Glenn Curtis,

0:30:130:30:15

who wasn't really so much to do with cars, he was an aviation pioneer.

0:30:150:30:19

And these people said,

0:30:190:30:21

"One day, the car and the aeroplane will be combined.

0:30:210:30:25

"You can be sure of it," said Henry Ford.

0:30:250:30:27

-COMMENTATOR:

-Inside seven minutes flat,

0:30:270:30:29

you've got yourself an all-metal motorcar.

0:30:290:30:32

In America, cars are airborne.

0:30:320:30:34

Over here, it's only the price that's up in the clouds.

0:30:340:30:37

And it sort of makes sense, doesn't it?

0:30:370:30:39

The idea that your car would also fly.

0:30:390:30:42

Here is some footage of me flying a flying car

0:30:420:30:45

in an earlier life.

0:30:450:30:47

OVER RADIO: I am actually flying the aerocar.

0:30:470:30:49

How about that?

0:30:490:30:51

WHIRRING

0:30:520:30:54

Hold your hands up in the air, so they know I'm doing it.

0:30:540:30:56

There you go.

0:30:560:30:57

'And, by the way, if you're expecting me to'

0:30:570:30:59

pull back on the stick and take off,

0:30:590:31:01

you're going to be disappointed.

0:31:010:31:03

This isn't a flying car.

0:31:030:31:05

'Nope.

0:31:060:31:08

'It's a swimming one.'

0:31:080:31:10

That's very rough.

0:31:100:31:11

Is it afloat? It's not quite afloat.

0:31:130:31:15

'At least the production team SAID this was a swimming car,

0:31:150:31:18

'but maybe it's an elaborate joke for YouTube.'

0:31:180:31:21

Engage propeller.

0:31:210:31:23

WHIRRING

0:31:230:31:25

I am a boat.

0:31:250:31:27

UPBEAT BAND MUSIC

0:31:270:31:30

'I do believe that, in the future, we will all take to the skies,

0:31:300:31:34

'but back in 1961, they set their sights a little lower.'

0:31:340:31:38

-COMMENTATOR:

-This looks a perfectly normal motorcar, but what its name?

0:31:380:31:41

The Amphicar.

0:31:410:31:42

This is the land animal that has taken to life afloat.

0:31:420:31:45

Two-way traffic on a wavy highway,

0:31:450:31:47

where there's no such thing as a speed cop

0:31:470:31:49

or a hold-up at the lights.

0:31:490:31:51

'You might be taking your life in your hands getting it afloat,

0:31:560:31:58

'but the Amphicar is actually as forward-thinking as the car plane.

0:31:580:32:02

'Waterways predate tarmac roads, so why not use them?

0:32:020:32:06

'To explain further, here's a flashback.'

0:32:060:32:09

Here I am earlier

0:32:090:32:11

and here is, basically, how it works.

0:32:110:32:13

The top half is a car.

0:32:130:32:15

The bottom half is sort of a boat, but it's more carbon boat, really.

0:32:150:32:18

It has all the things you'd expect of a car -

0:32:180:32:21

headlights, indicators, a steering wheel,

0:32:210:32:23

a perfectly conventional four-speed transmission and so on.

0:32:230:32:26

You drive it like a car. You're unaware of it being a boat as well.

0:32:260:32:29

But if we go to the back...

0:32:290:32:31

things are a bit more interesting.

0:32:310:32:33

You can disengage the gearbox and engage a separate gearbox,

0:32:340:32:38

which then drives...

0:32:380:32:39

Wait for it.

0:32:390:32:41

Can you guess what it's going to be?

0:32:410:32:43

Two propellers down here.

0:32:430:32:46

And then it becomes a boat and it steers with the front wheels,

0:32:460:32:50

because a rudder would make it a bit too boat-like

0:32:500:32:52

for people who aren't familiar with boats.

0:32:520:32:54

By making it steer with the front wheels,

0:32:540:32:56

it still retains some car-like qualities on the water.

0:32:560:32:59

You have two bilge pumps and, of course,

0:32:590:33:01

the exhaust pipe has to be up there, otherwise it would be underwater.

0:33:010:33:04

And, finally, when you're on the water...

0:33:040:33:06

..you do, of course, have to display your colours.

0:33:070:33:11

Which are here and that inserts in...

0:33:110:33:15

..there.

0:33:160:33:18

We're ready to sail.

0:33:180:33:19

'To demonstrate the Amphicar's

0:33:190:33:21

'ahead-of-its-time practical capabilities,

0:33:210:33:23

'I've asked someone to meet me

0:33:230:33:25

'at Birmingham's most important tourist destination -

0:33:250:33:28

'the pub.

0:33:280:33:30

'While I navigate the canal system,

0:33:300:33:32

'my friend and personal stylist, Rory,

0:33:320:33:34

'will tackle the rush hour traffic.

0:33:340:33:37

'Rory's never been to Birmingham before.

0:33:370:33:39

'He has no map or sat-nav.

0:33:390:33:41

'He has only his favourite mix tape for company.'

0:33:410:33:43

MUSIC: Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom!! by Vengaboys

0:33:430:33:45

-CRUNCHING

-Ooh! There's third gear.

0:33:450:33:48

MUSIC PLAYS

0:33:480:33:50

'The Amphicar takes its engine from the Triumph Herald,

0:33:500:33:53

'which is what we've given Rory to drive,

0:33:530:33:55

'to give him a fair chance at pipping me to the pint'.

0:33:550:33:58

MUSIC: Nice Weather for Ducks by Lemon Jelly

0:33:580:34:00

# Look, all the ducks are swimming in the water... #

0:34:000:34:02

'And, as the scorching British summer rolls in,

0:34:020:34:05

'a dip sounds like just the thing.'

0:34:050:34:07

Just about every town or city in the world has a river,

0:34:070:34:11

because that's why towns and cities are where they are.

0:34:110:34:13

That goes back, you know, to the Dark Ages.

0:34:130:34:16

And, since there's no requirement to move coal

0:34:160:34:19

and wood and jute up and down the canals any more,

0:34:190:34:22

we might as well use them for commuting.

0:34:220:34:25

'And, anyway, it's no wetter than anywhere else in Birmingham.'

0:34:250:34:28

HORNS BEEP LOUDLY

0:34:280:34:29

I thought there was a big junction in Birmingham

0:34:290:34:32

that avoided all the traffic.

0:34:320:34:34

"Oh, yeah, you go to Birmingham, there's a big Spaghetti Junction,

0:34:340:34:37

"there's no traffic."

0:34:370:34:38

It's all I've been doing, just sitting still the whole time.

0:34:380:34:41

'Not a problem for the Amphicar.'

0:34:410:34:44

-COMMENTATOR:

-Just the job for a Sunday cruise

0:34:440:34:46

down the river and the thing is, once you're waterborne,

0:34:460:34:48

you really begin to believe that 9mph is quite a speed,

0:34:480:34:51

because, look, that Amphicar is travelling at 9mph precisely.

0:34:510:34:55

They do say that the average speed of traffic during rush hour

0:34:560:34:59

in a big British city is, typically, about 8mph.

0:34:590:35:03

And I'm doing four knots, which is sort of 4.5mph,

0:35:030:35:07

but I'm going a fairly direct route.

0:35:070:35:09

Come on. Go! Go!

0:35:090:35:11

Let's go, guys!

0:35:110:35:13

-COMMENTATOR:

-And you feel you're really moving.

0:35:130:35:16

'And it's not just congestion solving

0:35:160:35:18

'where the Amphicar has its advantages.'

0:35:180:35:21

All right. Here we go. Hamstead, straight on.

0:35:210:35:23

Handsworth Road,

0:35:230:35:24

Birchfield, Lozells.

0:35:240:35:26

All I have is a paper map of the canals, but it's quite simple.

0:35:260:35:30

To be honest, having turned right under that bridge,

0:35:300:35:32

now I just keep going until I get to a canal T-junction.

0:35:320:35:35

Then I go left.

0:35:350:35:36

'Sir Isaac Newton said that every action

0:35:380:35:40

'has an equal and opposite reaction.'

0:35:400:35:43

Come on. Let's go, let's go!

0:35:430:35:45

'The Amphicar car provides the equal and opposite reaction to road rage.'

0:35:450:35:49

Here's a bird.

0:35:500:35:52

Hello, mate.

0:35:520:35:53

Look at that.

0:35:530:35:54

You wouldn't normally get that close, would you?

0:35:550:35:58

Did you see him?

0:35:580:36:00

HORNS BEEP

0:36:000:36:01

That is absolutely superb.

0:36:020:36:04

Morning, afternoon, whatever it is.

0:36:040:36:07

Time is of no consequence.

0:36:070:36:10

Right, and there is my endpoint, which is the pub,

0:36:100:36:12

so now just mooring up.

0:36:120:36:14

Can you give me a small hand to moor my car, sir?

0:36:140:36:17

I'm docked.

0:36:190:36:20

-Allow me to buy you a pint.

-Thank you.

0:36:200:36:23

'So there you have it - the Amphicar.

0:36:230:36:26

'A great idea that offered an answer to congestion

0:36:260:36:29

'and made the people happy.

0:36:290:36:31

'As for Rory,

0:36:310:36:33

'he did finally reach the pub,

0:36:330:36:35

'although he appeared to be legless by the time he got there.'

0:36:350:36:38

THUMP!

0:36:380:36:39

RORY LAUGHS

0:36:390:36:40

-Are you all right?

-Yeah, I'm good, thanks.

0:36:400:36:42

'Despite its quirky brilliance,

0:36:420:36:44

'the Amphicar was not a worldwide success.

0:36:440:36:46

'Maybe that was because, in America's wide open spaces,

0:36:490:36:53

'congestion was not an issue.

0:36:530:36:55

'Over there, the people still wanted speed, style and muscle.'

0:36:550:37:00

MUSIC: China Grove by the Doobie Brothers

0:37:000:37:03

This car is the Series 2 Dodge Charger RT.

0:37:060:37:10

And it kicks butt...

0:37:100:37:12

big time.

0:37:120:37:13

# When the sun comes up on a sleepy little town... #

0:37:130:37:17

'This 7.2 litre, 440 horsepower monster

0:37:170:37:22

'was a shameless celebration of the petrol age,

0:37:220:37:25

'the US auto industry and America itself.'

0:37:250:37:28

It was a bit of a golden era for massive cars with massive engines.

0:37:280:37:33

And it was all...

0:37:330:37:34

Well, it was rather fantastic.

0:37:350:37:36

MUSIC: Sweet Home Alabama by Lynyrd Skynyrd

0:37:360:37:40

'The Dodge Charger was a perfect car for late '60s America -

0:37:400:37:44

'a time when cheap oil flowed like running water.'

0:37:440:37:47

In 1968, gas - that's petrol -

0:37:470:37:51

in the US was typically 34 cents a gallon.

0:37:510:37:55

Now, that sounds cheap, of course, because it was a long time ago.

0:37:550:37:58

Actually, it was quite cheap even at the time.

0:37:580:38:01

And there was probably a good reason for that.

0:38:010:38:03

Detroit depended on the oil companies to support them.

0:38:030:38:07

The oil companies depended on Detroit to make a car like this

0:38:070:38:10

that would use a lot of their stuff up.

0:38:100:38:12

So everybody was happy.

0:38:120:38:14

Official fuel consumption figures for the Charger RT -

0:38:170:38:20

ten miles to the gallon, which means, roughly,

0:38:200:38:23

as I go past these nodding donkeys,

0:38:230:38:26

each one is, effectively, refuelling this car.

0:38:260:38:29

If more than three of them pack up, we're doomed.

0:38:290:38:32

I'm going to give it the berries. Hold on.

0:38:320:38:35

ENGINE REVS

0:38:350:38:36

Thank you. And I'll have some more, please.

0:38:380:38:41

'Well over half a century since the dawn of the petrol age,

0:38:460:38:50

'oil was still king and the piston engines was still providing

0:38:500:38:53

'the soundtrack for the world.'

0:38:530:38:56

This car comes from a high point in the Detroit motor industry's story.

0:38:570:39:01

A time when all that mattered was the pursuit of power and majesty

0:39:010:39:05

and it didn't matter what was consumed in achieving it -

0:39:050:39:08

how much fuel it burned, how much raw material was used,

0:39:080:39:11

how much it weighed, how much space it took up, how much noise it made,

0:39:110:39:14

how many instruments you've got on the dashboard.

0:39:140:39:16

And here is a measure of just how profligate

0:39:160:39:19

the American motor car had become.

0:39:190:39:21

The average size of the four-leaf clover highway interchange

0:39:210:39:25

being built on American roads at the same time as this car

0:39:250:39:28

occupied the same area as the mediaeval port of Dubrovnik.

0:39:280:39:32

And you can take one down the pub and have it on me.

0:39:320:39:36

'The muscle car, like Detroit itself,

0:39:380:39:40

'had become an American icon.

0:39:400:39:43

'And, like all true American heroes,

0:39:430:39:45

'it was eulogised in song and on-screen.'

0:39:450:39:48

MUSIC: General Lee by Johnny Cash

0:39:480:39:50

# I'm a charger

0:39:500:39:51

# That charges through the night

0:39:510:39:54

# I'm thunder on the highway

0:39:540:39:56

# Looking bad, bad, bad. #

0:39:560:39:58

If you were a regular watcher of The Dukes of Hazzard,

0:39:580:40:00

you will know that the Charger RT -

0:40:000:40:03

RT is for road/track, by the way -

0:40:030:40:05

it could fly.

0:40:050:40:07

Well, it could take off, at any rate - it wasn't so good at landing,

0:40:070:40:10

which is why you never really saw that bit in the programme.

0:40:100:40:12

Now, the production budget for The Dukes of Hazzard was,

0:40:120:40:15

presumably, quite small, because they couldn't even stretch

0:40:150:40:17

to full-length trousers for Daisy,

0:40:170:40:20

but they did manage to find enough money

0:40:200:40:22

to get through quite a few Dodge Chargers.

0:40:220:40:24

In fact, estimate for the number of Dodge Chargers

0:40:240:40:26

consumed by The Dukes of Hazzard

0:40:260:40:28

ranges from two to seven...

0:40:280:40:31

..hundred.

0:40:320:40:33

'Of course, America's gleeful waste

0:40:340:40:37

'and conspicuous consumption couldn't last.

0:40:370:40:40

'The carefree days of "howdy, pardner"

0:40:400:40:42

'would soon be ended by their Saudi partner.'

0:40:420:40:45

MUSIC: Gimme Shelter by The Rolling Stones

0:40:450:40:48

'In 1973, after yet another squabble in the Middle East,

0:40:480:40:52

'the Saudis and others banned oil sales to America.

0:40:520:40:55

'Even when the embargo was lifted,

0:40:560:40:58

'petrol prices stayed high

0:40:580:41:00

'and cars like the Charger were left gasping.

0:41:000:41:03

'And, so, people began exploring cheaper and cleaner alternatives

0:41:050:41:09

'to their beloved gasoline.

0:41:090:41:10

'And that reopened the door to some old thinking.

0:41:100:41:14

'Remember the Baker Electric we saw earlier?

0:41:140:41:17

'Let's see how that idea was coming along.'

0:41:170:41:19

It's bad news, I'm afraid.

0:41:190:41:21

By the 1980s, battery technology had not really moved on

0:41:210:41:25

from the state it was in back when the Baker was built.

0:41:250:41:28

The big revolution that was brought about by mobile phones

0:41:280:41:30

and laptops and that sort of thing, that hadn't happened yet.

0:41:300:41:34

And, anyway, electric power was still for milk floats

0:41:340:41:37

and meals on wheels delivery vans and nutty professors.

0:41:370:41:41

So an electric car of the people would have to be very light

0:41:410:41:44

to make the most of the feeble battery technology of the time.

0:41:440:41:47

It would also have to be simple, it would have to be very cheap

0:41:470:41:50

and it would have to be cool, because being cool

0:41:500:41:53

was very important in making a new idea catch on.

0:41:530:41:55

-COMMENTATOR:

-Imagine a vehicle that needs no petrol. Just a battery.

0:41:570:42:00

'Yes, in 1985, that height of cool was hoped to be achieved by this.'

0:42:000:42:05

ELECTRONIC FANFARE PLAYS

0:42:050:42:07

-COMMENTATOR:

-The Sinclair C5.

0:42:090:42:11

It's a new power in personal transport.

0:42:110:42:14

Well, here it is.

0:42:170:42:19

Six foot of plastic with foot pedals and an electric motor,

0:42:190:42:23

not unlike the one that drives your washing machine.

0:42:230:42:26

This is brilliant.

0:42:290:42:30

I like it.

0:42:310:42:33

'The Sinclair C5 wasn't actually fitted with a washing machine motor,

0:42:330:42:37

'although it was made in a factory that built them.

0:42:370:42:39

'The 12-volt motor it did have could completely burn out

0:42:390:42:42

'on even a mild hill, though,

0:42:420:42:44

'so it was fitted with these user-unfriendly pedals, too.

0:42:440:42:48

'It might make you look like a kamikaze reject from a Tron movie,

0:42:480:42:52

'but it was actually the product of some incredibly forward thinking

0:42:520:42:55

'by its genius inventor - Sir Clive Sinclair.'

0:42:550:42:58

It's ideal for shopping, for, you know, going to the office,

0:42:580:43:02

going to the station, going to school.

0:43:020:43:04

Any relatively short range trip.

0:43:040:43:06

'He was so proud of his baby that he even named after himself.

0:43:060:43:10

'That C stands for Clive.

0:43:100:43:12

'Yes, it's the Clive 5.

0:43:120:43:14

'I told you it was cool.'

0:43:140:43:16

Sir Clive Sinclair gave many of us our first pocket calculator.

0:43:160:43:19

He also introduced my generation to the marvels of computing,

0:43:190:43:23

with the ZX81 and the ZX Spectrum, and they were brilliant.

0:43:230:43:27

He was a clever man.

0:43:270:43:29

Sorry, I mean he IS a clever man.

0:43:290:43:31

Cos, despite this, he's still alive.

0:43:310:43:33

'In fact, he wasn't just smart,

0:43:360:43:38

'the man was damn near clairvoyant.'

0:43:380:43:41

I believe firmly that all cars

0:43:410:43:44

ought to be electric by the next century.

0:43:440:43:46

Back in 1985, when this was launched,

0:43:480:43:50

the environment hadn't yet become a mainstream force in politics

0:43:500:43:54

and fashion, so this was very modern thinking.

0:43:540:43:57

'There were plenty of advantages.

0:43:570:43:59

'It was under 400 quid and five miles on this thing

0:43:590:44:02

'would only relieve you of one penny in running costs.

0:44:020:44:06

'You didn't have to tax or insure it

0:44:060:44:08

'and you didn't need an MOT or number plates.

0:44:080:44:10

'Plus, if you were a feckless youth, it got even better.'

0:44:100:44:13

Strictly speaking, the C5 is not a car.

0:44:130:44:16

In the eyes of a law, it's an electric tricycle,

0:44:160:44:19

which means anybody aged 14 or over can drive it.

0:44:190:44:23

Ride it. No, drive it. Whatever you do.

0:44:230:44:25

'For some reason, though,

0:44:260:44:28

'not everyone was thrilled about the idea of unlicensed kids

0:44:280:44:31

'hammering around the highways on a plastic tricycle.

0:44:310:44:34

Argh!

0:44:340:44:35

I'm very unhappy

0:44:350:44:36

that it's being sold

0:44:360:44:37

without essential safety equipment.

0:44:370:44:39

I wouldn't like to let my children out in it.

0:44:390:44:41

-REPORTER:

-Are you happy at the thought of 14-year-olds

0:44:410:44:43

-taking this onto the road?

-No.

0:44:430:44:45

There are one or two other issues.

0:44:450:44:47

Because you are so low, a lot of people don't see you.

0:44:470:44:50

They only feel you as they run over you.

0:44:500:44:52

Your head is at about the same height as a lorry's exhaust

0:44:520:44:57

and, er...

0:44:570:44:58

there's no reverse gear. Did I mention that?

0:44:580:45:01

It is catastrophically slow as well.

0:45:010:45:04

But it's quite good fun.

0:45:040:45:05

Because it's so small, the sense of terror at 50mph

0:45:050:45:10

is like nothing I've ever experienced before.

0:45:100:45:13

DRAMATIC MUSIC

0:45:130:45:15

Oh, for God's sake!

0:45:150:45:17

Engaging pedals as well.

0:45:180:45:20

I can see why it's got the little drain holes in the seat.

0:45:210:45:24

I thought that was to let the rain out.

0:45:240:45:26

Th...

0:45:270:45:28

Agh!

0:45:280:45:29

DRAMATIC MUSIC CONTINUES

0:45:290:45:31

LORRY HORN BEEPS Yes, all right!

0:45:310:45:34

LORRY HORN BEEPS REPEATEDLY

0:45:340:45:36

Oh, come on!

0:45:360:45:38

Agh, I can go in this lane, cos I'm technically a bicycle!

0:45:380:45:41

Stick that in your tipper!

0:45:430:45:44

HE LAUGHS MENACINGLY

0:45:450:45:47

'So forward thinking alone, alas, just wasn't enough.'

0:45:480:45:52

-REPORTER:

-The critics say it's not safe.

0:45:520:45:53

-REPORTER:

-The C5 has been a flop.

0:45:530:45:55

Whoever brought out that...

0:45:550:45:57

well, wants putting up a wall and shooting.

0:45:570:46:00

'And the reveal of the roofless C5's wet weather solution

0:46:000:46:03

'was the final nail in the coffin.'

0:46:030:46:05

-REPORTER:

-Accessories to make the C5 an all-weather vehicle

0:46:050:46:09

have been designed.

0:46:090:46:10

Waterproof side screens fit on front and rear wheel arches.

0:46:100:46:13

The protective cape with a hood...

0:46:130:46:15

'Even the actor can't keep a straight face.'

0:46:150:46:18

-REPORTER:

-Eight months later, retailers have slashed prices

0:46:180:46:21

of the C5 trike to try and shift their stocks.

0:46:210:46:25

HORN BEEPS

0:46:250:46:26

THEY SHOUT Keep going.

0:46:260:46:28

'To try and keep his much-abused electric dream alive,

0:46:280:46:31

'Sir Clive even sold his computer business

0:46:310:46:33

'to that bloke off The Apprentice.'

0:46:330:46:36

-REPORTER:

-It was confirmed today that the assembly line

0:46:360:46:39

has reverted to producing washing machines.

0:46:390:46:41

'The Clive 5 was not alive.'

0:46:410:46:44

So, in the end, everybody suffered,

0:46:440:46:47

because Sir Clive lost a load of his money,

0:46:470:46:49

we didn't get the low-cost, electric urban transport solution we wanted,

0:46:490:46:53

and we also ended up with Alan Sugar barking at us from television.

0:46:530:46:57

What a bum deal!

0:46:570:46:59

One of the criticisms regularly levelled at Sir Clive Sinclair

0:47:000:47:04

and his Clive 5 is that he never did any market research.

0:47:040:47:08

Well, good for him, I say, because market research

0:47:080:47:11

wouldn't have given us the home computer,

0:47:110:47:13

or television, for that matter.

0:47:130:47:15

Progress, as George Bernard Shaw once said,

0:47:150:47:18

"depends on the unreasonable man".

0:47:180:47:21

If he'd done any market research, he'd never have built this

0:47:210:47:24

and then we wouldn't know what a daft idea it is.

0:47:240:47:27

THAT is progress.

0:47:270:47:29

The C5 was just a stepping stone.

0:47:300:47:32

It's a learning exercise.

0:47:320:47:34

But what it leads to is very much more important.

0:47:340:47:36

'And, fast forward 30 years, and we appear to have solved

0:47:380:47:41

'the feeble battery issue that bedevilled Clive's invention.

0:47:410:47:45

'Today, there are electric vehicles out there

0:47:450:47:48

'that have side-stepped the battery issue altogether.'

0:47:480:47:51

Now, this is something I approve of immensely.

0:47:510:47:53

It's a hydrogen fuel cell car.

0:47:530:47:56

It's the Hyundai ix35.

0:47:580:48:00

It's actually the first truly commercially available

0:48:000:48:02

fuel cell car in the world.

0:48:020:48:04

It will cost you £53,000, but new stuff is expensive.

0:48:060:48:09

Remember the first video players, the first digital cameras.

0:48:090:48:12

A few rich people have to buy them,

0:48:130:48:15

then the idea will catch on and we can all have them.

0:48:150:48:17

Then it becomes a car of the people.

0:48:170:48:19

Anyway, look, the interesting thing about a fuel cell car

0:48:250:48:28

is that it's really an electric car.

0:48:280:48:30

The wheels are driven by an electric motor.

0:48:300:48:32

But, instead of having a battery that has to be recharged,

0:48:320:48:35

it has a hydrogen fuel cell, which is...

0:48:350:48:38

well, you can think of it as a sort of on-board, miniature

0:48:380:48:41

electricity generating station.

0:48:410:48:43

And a very good one, because the one in this car makes 100 kilowatts,

0:48:430:48:47

which means you could run your house off it.

0:48:470:48:50

And the great thing about the fuel cell car

0:48:560:48:58

is that you simply fill it up with liquid hydrogen,

0:48:580:49:01

which takes about the same amount of time as it does to fill a petrol

0:49:010:49:05

or a diesel car up with conventional fuel.

0:49:050:49:07

And the range of this car on one fill-up,

0:49:070:49:09

if you drive carefully, is 350 miles or so.

0:49:090:49:12

And then you can fill it up again, which will take you three minutes

0:49:120:49:16

and then you can do another 350 miles.

0:49:160:49:19

What's not to like?

0:49:190:49:20

'How does it work?

0:49:230:49:25

'Brace yourselves.'

0:49:250:49:27

Look, this does all get a bit "double chemistry with Mr Stink",

0:49:270:49:30

so I'll try and keep it reasonably simple.

0:49:300:49:33

Hydrogen in the tank at the back of the car

0:49:330:49:36

combines with oxygen in the air to make electricity.

0:49:360:49:39

So, in that sense, it's a bit like a fossil fuel,

0:49:390:49:41

it relies on the atmosphere to work. Good.

0:49:410:49:45

The other interesting thing is that the hydrogen in the tank

0:49:450:49:48

combines with the oxygen in the air to give us, as an exhaust,

0:49:480:49:52

er...water, which is H2O, remember.

0:49:520:49:56

Hydrogen and oxygen.

0:49:560:49:57

You can drink it.

0:49:590:50:01

This all sounds very Friends Of The Earth,

0:50:010:50:05

but there is a catch.

0:50:050:50:07

Currently, there are only four hydrogen filling stations

0:50:070:50:10

open to the public in Britain. And one of them's in Hendon.

0:50:100:50:13

And that's awful, because the know-how has been around

0:50:130:50:16

for longer than you think.

0:50:160:50:18

There are two bits of technology on this car that predate

0:50:180:50:22

the flatulent internal combustion engine in Benz's Motorwagen.

0:50:220:50:25

To be honest, they predate the original Rover safety bicycle,

0:50:250:50:28

which was the inspiration for every bike you see over there.

0:50:280:50:32

Now, one of them is the electric motor.

0:50:320:50:34

That's not such a surprise, maybe.

0:50:340:50:35

But the other one is the fuel cell itself.

0:50:350:50:38

The basic principles of which were worked out

0:50:380:50:41

back in the middle of the 19th century.

0:50:410:50:43

The technology is perfectly understood,

0:50:430:50:46

it's perfectly reliable, it's perfectly usable.

0:50:460:50:49

The only thing we are waiting for to make this

0:50:490:50:51

fabulous dream of hydrogen happen...

0:50:510:50:54

is a hydrogen infrastructure. That's all we need.

0:50:540:50:57

Everything else, like this Hyundai...

0:50:570:51:00

..is ready.

0:51:010:51:03

It's extraordinary, really,

0:51:050:51:07

to think that we may be on the brink of a people's car revolution.

0:51:070:51:12

But, despite this exciting progress,

0:51:120:51:14

there's still one deeply unreliable component in this.

0:51:140:51:17

And all cars.

0:51:170:51:19

That component, of course,

0:51:190:51:20

is me. Or you.

0:51:200:51:23

Whoever. The driver.

0:51:230:51:25

CRASHING

0:51:250:51:26

Most leading carmakers are already experimenting

0:51:260:51:28

with elements of driverless technology.

0:51:280:51:31

And tech giants Google have gone the whole hog

0:51:310:51:33

and are trying to eliminate the steering wheel altogether.

0:51:330:51:36

All you have to do is sit in it and look stupid.

0:51:360:51:40

ENGINE REVS

0:51:400:51:41

Now, Audi think rather differently about all this.

0:51:430:51:47

They say the car will be autonomous.

0:51:510:51:54

It will be a robot car for all the boring bits.

0:51:540:51:56

So driving along the motorway, heavy stop-start traffic,

0:51:560:51:59

all that sort of thing. But then...

0:51:590:52:02

when it comes to fun time, you can take over.

0:52:020:52:05

I'm in my Audi RS7 with 552 horsepower

0:52:090:52:13

and I'm on a track day in Spain,

0:52:130:52:16

in Catalunya, in fact.

0:52:160:52:17

ENGINE DIES

0:52:250:52:27

DOORS BEEP

0:52:270:52:28

Ooh!

0:52:280:52:30

How did I do?

0:52:300:52:31

-2 minutes, 20.

-2:20?

-Yep.

0:52:310:52:35

Yeah, I think it'll go faster than that.

0:52:350:52:37

ENGINE REVS

0:52:380:52:41

'This, if you haven't guessed,

0:52:440:52:46

'is the experimental autonomous version of the RS7.'

0:52:460:52:49

So, Thomas Muller, very briefly, please. How does it work?

0:52:510:52:55

James, the car works like a professional race driver.

0:52:550:52:57

You know, it knows the track already.

0:52:570:52:59

Through differential GPS and through cameras, it's a complex technology.

0:52:590:53:03

Depending on the stability of the car,

0:53:030:53:05

depending on the driving dynamics,

0:53:050:53:07

it's going to choose the best path to go through all this course.

0:53:070:53:10

But, in the end, it's like a professional race driver.

0:53:100:53:12

What, so it makes excuses all the time?

0:53:120:53:15

'So, can a car capable of analysing track conditions

0:53:160:53:19

'to follow the best racing line

0:53:190:53:21

'beat a car journo with years of experience?

0:53:210:53:24

'To find out if it can better my time of 2:20,

0:53:240:53:27

'it's going to take me captive for a high-speed lap.'

0:53:270:53:31

All I actually need to do is keep my thumb on that button

0:53:310:53:35

and the car will drive me round. That's it.

0:53:350:53:39

And I was about to say I'll just get the seat in the right position

0:53:390:53:42

for the pedals and everything, but I don't need to.

0:53:420:53:44

Technically, I could sit in the back and do this.

0:53:440:53:47

But they won't let me.

0:53:470:53:48

So...

0:53:480:53:49

goodbye, cruel world.

0:53:490:53:51

Right. If I hold this button,

0:53:560:53:59

the car will go.

0:53:590:54:00

And I mustn't touch anything.

0:54:030:54:04

ENGINE REVS

0:54:050:54:07

MUSIC: Lonely Boy by The Black Keys

0:54:070:54:09

That feels weird.

0:54:090:54:10

Don't brake. Don't brake. Don't brake.

0:54:120:54:15

It's braking for me. Excellent. That's a result.

0:54:150:54:18

Actually, this is the hardest thing I've ever done.

0:54:200:54:23

Don't touch the steering wheel. I'm not touching the pedals.

0:54:230:54:27

Into the right-hander.

0:54:270:54:29

It's drifting across. It's done that properly.

0:54:290:54:32

Brakes! Brakes! Argh, that's the hairpin.

0:54:330:54:36

That's slowed right down now.

0:54:360:54:38

It's going to give it the beans as it comes out of there.

0:54:380:54:40

ENGINE ROARS

0:54:400:54:42

70, 80.

0:54:420:54:43

Agh, I don't like this one!

0:54:430:54:45

Don't touch the brakes!

0:54:450:54:46

Oh, God. This is the long straight.

0:54:500:54:52

Here we go. 88, 88, 90, 91.

0:54:520:54:54

Now it's 100.

0:54:540:54:55

That's about 120.

0:54:570:54:58

Brake, you bastard!

0:55:000:55:01

Come on, otherwise I'm going to let go of the button!

0:55:010:55:04

Yes. Thank you.

0:55:040:55:06

ENGINE ROARS

0:55:060:55:08

Ooh.

0:55:090:55:12

Ooh, might have to edit some of that out.

0:55:120:55:14

Come on, I've just done the vorsprung.

0:55:140:55:17

And now on the home finish straight. It's going straight.

0:55:170:55:20

I'm going to take my finger off the button.

0:55:200:55:21

And there it is. It's a car.

0:55:210:55:23

I wasn't scared in the slightest.

0:55:290:55:32

'Maybe not,

0:55:320:55:33

'but the car's own lap was eight seconds faster than mine.

0:55:330:55:37

'In racing terms, that's the difference between

0:55:370:55:39

'a night out with James Hunt and a night in with James May.

0:55:390:55:43

'And that's a slightly depressing thought.'

0:55:430:55:45

A lot of people say, the autonomous car will be the end of driving.

0:55:450:55:49

I think, actually, it could be the end of the car, as we know it,

0:55:490:55:53

as a means of just getting around, because, if we can develop a system

0:55:530:55:56

that clever, that keeps us all apart,

0:55:560:55:59

why not use it to get around up there?

0:55:590:56:02

Because that's where all the space is.

0:56:020:56:04

And then the car can become a hobby.

0:56:040:56:07

Excellent.

0:56:080:56:09

'All right. So maybe I'm getting carried away with the flying thing.

0:56:110:56:15

'But autonomous technology is already with us.

0:56:150:56:18

'My i3 can park itself, remember.

0:56:180:56:21

'However, just as in 1900, we still don't know for sure

0:56:210:56:25

'what the people's car of the future will be.

0:56:250:56:28

'Even the old ideas refuse to go away.

0:56:280:56:31

'Remember steam cars?'

0:56:310:56:32

Chuffa-chuffa-chuffa-chuffa...

0:56:320:56:34

'People are still experimenting with those.

0:56:340:56:37

'This one does 160mph.

0:56:370:56:39

'Chuffing hell!'

0:56:390:56:41

I am a boat.

0:56:410:56:42

'Amphicars now look like this.

0:56:420:56:44

'And could be operated by even the clinically delusional.'

0:56:440:56:47

I'm Mr Darcy.

0:56:470:56:49

Come on!

0:56:490:56:50

WHOOSHING

0:56:500:56:52

'And turbines?

0:56:520:56:53

'The fastest car on earth is powered by a jet engine.

0:56:530:56:57

'With some help from a rocket.'

0:56:570:56:59

ENGINE REVS

0:56:590:57:00

'Good old TVR has risen from the ashes...'

0:57:000:57:03

Blackpool uber alles!

0:57:030:57:05

'..and has plans for an all-new car, again.

0:57:050:57:08

'And Clive Sinclair - he still dreams

0:57:090:57:12

'of an elegant, electric transport solution.

0:57:120:57:15

'Until that happens, he's funding this -

0:57:150:57:17

'the electric A-bike.

0:57:170:57:19

'So, where does this leave the man in the street?'

0:57:190:57:22

I actually think we're in a golden age of the car,

0:57:220:57:25

because, for about 120 years or so,

0:57:250:57:28

it developed very slowly.

0:57:280:57:30

It just crept along incrementally.

0:57:300:57:32

But, all of a sudden, we're looking at things

0:57:320:57:34

like new methods of propulsion, new materials,

0:57:340:57:37

possible autonomy, connectivity.

0:57:370:57:40

It's all really fantastic stuff, but it is very much work in progress,

0:57:400:57:44

because - here is a slightly depressing statistic -

0:57:440:57:48

the real-world range of my electric BMW i3

0:57:480:57:51

is about 75 miles.

0:57:510:57:54

The real-world range of the electric Baker

0:57:540:57:56

we saw right at the beginning of the programme...

0:57:560:57:59

it's about 75 miles.

0:57:590:58:01

Hm.

0:58:020:58:04

Right, to the Batmobile.

0:58:040:58:05

MUSIC: Batman Theme

0:58:050:58:08

HE LAUGHS MENACINGLY

0:58:130:58:17

POLICE SIREN WAILS

0:58:190:58:20

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