Adam Carolla, his 13 cars and his thoughts in article

[Vector]

If you look at the market share of the major auto companies, you will see that Americans already think their own stuff sucks! The import market is huge and the civic is the best selling car in NA right now.

They have already embraced the foreign competition. I think there are plenty of them ready for a change.

 

[douglasroman]

I think the original TG is great, and if you are just going to change the accents on the hosts, why bother even making a new show? People can figure out what the English guys are saying. It doesn?t take much to figure out what a boot is or what Petrol means. But the show was made for a British audience. There are elements of show that the British audience might go for that the American audience may not. Otherwise why even make it? Examples

1) The ridiculing of other nationalities (particularly Americans) in order to make Britons feel better about themselves. Lets just say America is in a different position than Briton and national pride comes more from accomplishments than the belittling of others. The U.S. version will be different, this is a given, in that I can?t believe anyone on NBC would get away with talking about Mexicans for example, the way Clarkson talks about other nationalities. ?Everybody's very fat, everybody's very stupid, and everybody is very rude. It's not the holiday program, it's the truth."- Jeremy Clarkson on America. Say something like that about Mexico and Carolla would be fired.


2) The reviewing of cars that in many cases are not available in the US., and not reviewing big US sellers

3) The general bias against U.S. cars. You might agree with that bias, but don?t tell me it doesn?t exist. Now you could argue that with smaller curvier roads, shorter trips, higher gas prices it would be normal for them to have a predisposition to dislike American cars, fine. But Americans overall would not share that predisposition. So from a point of view of American interested in buying a car. An unbiased view regarding American cars would be an improvement.

Carolla?s lake of enthusiasm for muscle cars is disappointing. There is something about driving down a long highway in a big 400 hp car, that a man (like May or Clarkson) who lives in a country that is literally 2.5% the size of America (96,000 sq miles vs. 3.8 million), and that pays twice as much for gas, could not appreciate. (Do they even have something like the NHRA in Europe)? Now if Carolla is not a fan of muscle cars, and prefers smaller European sports cars, what value does he bring? Is he going to be funnier than the original hosts, I doubt it. Is he going to know more about cars than the original hosts? Again, I doubt it.

If Carolla shares the original trios like of European sports cars and dislike of American Muscle, What does he add? There is no law saying we NEED an American version of something. We don?t need an American James Bond.

Of the three reasons I thought of to have an American version of the show I think the first two will be implemented almost certainly. I think the third may or may not but the Motor Trend article is not encouraging. I am not saying you have to like Muscle or American cars, but people who prefer lighter smaller performance cars already have the original Top Gear to watch ? why make a new one.

 

[yeeha]

I quite agree with this sentiment even tho it does seem arrogant and elitist. Americans, esp in LA have grown into the car culture lifestyle and don't want to give it up, not realize its still a privilege and not a right. You make it increasingly cost prohibitive, it will have an effect and ppl will find alternatives because they have to. They usually will not pursue alternative means of commuting until forced to. Simply asking/suggesting does nothing.

Your point makes sense and I pretty much agree. Gas prices recently have been already causing people to adjust so they are not wasting as much gas. Which is a good thing.

Carolla's idea takes this premise stupidly far by saying gas should be $10/gallon and this excess will be enough to fund a free van/train service that will pick you up at your door. A wonderful utopian idea that has next to no chance of being efficient, and assuming it was remotely efficient there wouldn't be enough people left driving to cover the costs. Either he is exaggerating the point to piss people off/generate calls or he is just an idiot.

1) The ridiculing of other nationalities (particularly Americans) in order to make Britons feel better about themselves. Lets just say America is in a different position than Briton and national pride comes more from accomplishments than the belittling of others.......Say something like that about Mexico and Carolla would be fired.


2) The reviewing of cars that in many cases are not available in the US., and not reviewing big US sellers

Carolla?s lake of enthusiasm for muscle cars is disappointing.

To your first point. As an American I honestly think American shows rip on other nationalities, groups, whoever just as much. South Park and family guy do it consistantly. There would be controversy, as top gear has had, but I very much doubt Carolla would get fired for adapting any of Clarkson's jokes at other countries.

As for reviewing cars not available in the US. If they handle just like Top Gear does they'll be just fine. Keep it to a minimum by only talking about the interesting cars we can't buy. I'm confident they will review the big US sellers.

Everyone has their preferences/biases, you won't be getting any truly unbiased reviews.

I'm also a bit disappointed by his lack of interest in muscle cars. If the other hosts do see the fun in owning a muscle car then it could balance out nicely. If they don't and just end up ripping on every muscle car they review it could easily end up alienating a large portion of their potential fan base.

 

[douglasroman]

Yeeha

All good points. I should be optimistic. I'll wait for the show and see what we get.

 

[janstett]

I like a lot of what Adam said (especially cutting out the fake scoops), but the guy is just stuck in a time warp.

As far as any fear of classic American musclecars going by the wayside when new CAFE rules aim for almost 32 mpg by 2015, Carolla says he doesn't like those cars anyway. "I don't like those junky American straight-axle, leaf-spring, drum-brake, push-rod, iron-block piles of shit," he says, with a slight chuckle.

Straight Axle? OK, the Mustang still does. Camaro and Challenger have IRS.

Leaf Spring? Everybody's coil springs, except the Corvette which has a transverse spring like F1 used not too long ago and obviously this is NOT a "lol spring" as used in pickup trucks or the 70s muscle cars like Adam has wedged into his mind.

Drum brakes? None of those cars has drum brakes.

Push rod? OK, but alone that doesn't make it evil. It keeps things simpler, lighter weight, and lower center of gravity.

Iron block? Sorry, everybody's using aluminum blocks there. Except for, you know, BMW. That's why these big displacement V8s making up to 500 hp are lighter than BMW's inline 6.

Adam, open your frigging eyes. You don't have to like it, but you're stuck in 1972.

I hate to say this, but the only hope we have now is eric stromer for some kind of muscle car love on the show.

Apparently you missed it when he said his favorite car is the Camry Hybrid.

Those of us who like American Musclecars can be accused of having bad taste; someone whose favorite car is a Camry Hybrid has no taste whatsoever.

Not sure if he is actually serious about the $10 gas and a free service to drive anyone who doesn't want to pay. Assuming he is serious, he is just an idiot.

For a guy who was a carpenter, he seems to forget that the cost of gasoline is a cost to his business and makes the cost of everything else -- food, goods, services, transportation, package delivery UPS/FedEx, airline flights -- go up as well, in other words INFLATION and everything becomes more expensive and people lose jobs. For a guy who comes from a modest background he sure has become a class A elitist prick.

 

[douglasroman]

Janstett

Great post - and well said


Yesterday while watching the Speed Channel it hit me. The person they should be the host, or at least one of the hosts, of the American Top Gear would be Bill Goldberg. He is bright, funny, and has an encyclopedic knowledge of American cars. Best point yet he is a true aficionado of American Muscle cars. Compare his collection to Carollas?. He also owned a Monster Truck.



1959 Chevrolet Biscayne
1965 Replica Cobra, built by Ernie Elliot
1966 Jaguar XKE convertible
1967 HEMI GTX
1967 Shelby GT 500, all original car
1968 Chevy Blazer
1968 Yenko Camaro, specialized, 40,000 original miles, 1 of 33
1969 Dodge Charger, HEMI Motor
1970 Boss 429 (Lawman) Mustang, very rare, used in Vietnam War, only two were made (one was crushed), 750 original miles
1970 Ram Air IV Trans Am
1970 ? Z 28 Camaro Trans Am race car
1970 Dodge Challenger convertible, 426 HEMI motor
1970 Plymouth Barracuda 440 Plus Six
1970 Convertible Barracuda 383
1973 Pontiac Super Duty Trans Am
1992 Porsche 911 Turbo
1996 Mercedes S600 V 12
1997 Ford Thunderbird race car
1999 Dodge truck
2003 Ferrari Modena 360

I saw on the web he had/(has)? A car show on the History channel but I have never caught it.

 

[ahpadt]

Jesus, talking about overreacting guys. Calm down.