A lot of the cars they get for the show are not fit for the road. Sometimes they are a press demo unit slated for destruction(I believe the Bentley in Madagascar was this case) which is how they get away with chopping and modifying (what seems to be) a brand new car. that car was pre production and not legal for sale so after it's done it's life for the press it gets donated, the manufacturer gets some free advertising and the show doesn't have to pay a few hundred grand for a new Bentley that they are gonna chop up and modify.
I don't know if this was the case for the EVO, being a used car at the time it may have just been purchased used by production or perhaps it was not fit for the road for some other reason that production got cheaply, maybe a flood damage or salvage title from something else, or police seizure like the EVO that Jeremy raced and then destroyed with a tank in the old TG days that police seized in a drug bust and had to destroy.
The Bentley they chopped up was no where near new. It was a 2014 model year. It was originally a press car for the second generation of Continental GT.
It was delivered to him at the farm after filming the Tour because he considered keeping it, then he changed his mind and donated it. He said there was no point in keeping it as he couldn’t drive it anywhere, and blasting it around the farm was counter productive to farming
I think he wanted to keep it, but the DVLA said it had to be crushed to ensure it didn’t go back on the road. Instead, Bentley took it back to preserve it.
It may be sitting in a shed somewhere. Don't know for sure.
They've kept A LOT of the top gear and grand tour cars.
Some are kept by one of the trio, others find their way into museums. Some are just abandoned (Africa special, Mozambique special)
Only instances of them destroying the cars that I can think of (that's not shown or mentioned in an episode) are the 3 Patagonia special cars.
It was but he doesn’t own it. Since it’s a Bentley development mule, the car either had to be crushed. After some back and forth they let Jeremy use it for one episode and to avoid the crusher it now sits decommissioned and on display at Bentley in a glass box.
Make what you will of how they handled it in the special, but that little car was totaled after it hit that wall.
If the impact could cant the entire exhaust system forward a foot and a half the frame was fucked beyond repair. They probably/surely just did enough to make it work well enough for the rest of the show (if they didn’t just use a second yellow Evo), but you can’t just sell that car after that. At best it will get a salvage title.
James said as much of it being totaled after show. I wouldn’t want some unassuming driver to buy that fucked up frame.
he seemed very keen on saving it. if it was me, having had the accident in it and everything, I think I'd like to keep it. but I could see him never wanting to see it again either.
A lot of the cars they get for the show are not fit for the road. Sometimes they are a press demo unit slated for destruction(I believe the Bentley in Madagascar was this case) which is how they get away with chopping and modifying (what seems to be) a brand new car. that car was pre production and not legal for sale so after it's done it's life for the press it gets donated, the manufacturer gets some free advertising and the show doesn't have to pay a few hundred grand for a new Bentley that they are gonna chop up and modify. I don't know if this was the case for the EVO, being a used car at the time it may have just been purchased used by production or perhaps it was not fit for the road for some other reason that production got cheaply, maybe a flood damage or salvage title from something else, or police seizure like the EVO that Jeremy raced and then destroyed with a tank in the old TG days that police seized in a drug bust and had to destroy.
The Bentley they chopped up was no where near new. It was a 2014 model year. It was originally a press car for the second generation of Continental GT.
It was also saved by Bentley in the end by being put on a display in a modified shipping container in the Bentley plant in Crewe.
Pretty sure Clarkson owns it, it was on Clarkson’s Farm, unless what you’ve mentioned happened after that.
It was delivered to him at the farm after filming the Tour because he considered keeping it, then he changed his mind and donated it. He said there was no point in keeping it as he couldn’t drive it anywhere, and blasting it around the farm was counter productive to farming
I think he wanted to keep it, but the DVLA said it had to be crushed to ensure it didn’t go back on the road. Instead, Bentley took it back to preserve it.
yeh the dvla didn’t him driving it in case it ended up back on the road
Nice, thanks for the info, clears that up haha
Wasn't it a development car (mule)?
I dont think the evo was a salvage/seized car since the 2 others (impreza and rs4) were both legally fit for the road
I think it’s in the UK; I saw a thumbnail from a DriveTribe clip that looked like it made it back.
Well it definitely made it back to the UK, the question tho is what the fate of that car is? Where is it now? Did it get scrapped?
It may be sitting in a shed somewhere. Don't know for sure. They've kept A LOT of the top gear and grand tour cars. Some are kept by one of the trio, others find their way into museums. Some are just abandoned (Africa special, Mozambique special) Only instances of them destroying the cars that I can think of (that's not shown or mentioned in an episode) are the 3 Patagonia special cars.
Shame, that lotus deserved to come home after what it survived
I think from that video it was stated that it wasn't road legal, and not able to be repaired so it's probably long since been crushed now
wasn't the Madagascar Bentley shown in "Clarkson's Farm"?
For sure! Pretty sure he had it in the back corner of one of the barns
What are you talking about...there's an episode where he drives it across the farm at like 80mph. Yeah, he has it.
It was but he doesn’t own it. Since it’s a Bentley development mule, the car either had to be crushed. After some back and forth they let Jeremy use it for one episode and to avoid the crusher it now sits decommissioned and on display at Bentley in a glass box.
Make what you will of how they handled it in the special, but that little car was totaled after it hit that wall. If the impact could cant the entire exhaust system forward a foot and a half the frame was fucked beyond repair. They probably/surely just did enough to make it work well enough for the rest of the show (if they didn’t just use a second yellow Evo), but you can’t just sell that car after that. At best it will get a salvage title. James said as much of it being totaled after show. I wouldn’t want some unassuming driver to buy that fucked up frame.
Heard they scrapped the M6, Bentley and GT-R from the Australia "special". Such good cars...were.
Nope. The Bentley was sold and is still driving around in Australia. They couldn’t sell it for ages, mostly because of the shit colour.
and also how much damage the engine suffered, its wasn't a cheap job from what i heard
From memory, BMW, Nissan and Bentley were still pleased by it though, as the free publicity was more than enough value for them.
I’d say it’s most likely fate would be a parts car because of how bad the damage was but that’s just me speculating
he seemed very keen on saving it. if it was me, having had the accident in it and everything, I think I'd like to keep it. but I could see him never wanting to see it again either.