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[03x14] April 11, 2019 - Funeral for a Ford

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RCS35

RCS35

Member
Joined
Jul 14, 2013
Messages
34
Location
Portugal
Car(s)
2014 Range Rover Sport HSE Dynamic
I've just watched the final Episode of this season and of the end Era.
I know they will continue to do Specials from now on, but this was a really Great, Brilliant, Astonishing, Gorgeous, Controversial, Funny, Sublime, Staggering Era.
I've watched these 3 guys since the 1st Top Gear episode of series 1 that aired in 20 october 2002, with the Pagani Zonda and Lamborghini Murcielago...
They always accompanied me during my early teenage years, through those dark times i've had my adulthood, till today
Nothing will beat those Magical Sunday nights.
And over those years, they reinforced my love for cars even more, they introduced me to astonishing places, to amazing cars, to awesome celebrities, to hilarious/controversial news topics, to truly phenomenal challenges...
I'm a guy who don't cry that easily, and it's rare, but when I saw Jeremy starting to cry...oh boy ? . 1st time in 17 years that I cried like a baby
During the montage I was smiling till the end, I mean just seeing those old TG moments...simply great.
I have to thank Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, James May, the all crew of Top Gear and TGT, for these incredible 17 years of News, Laptimes, Celebrity Guests, Car Reviews, Challenges and other crazy stuff that they made over the years.

The Episode itself was the best one of the entire season and in general
It's on par with the 1st one they made (holy trinity)
The Ford tribute was magnificent.
Definitely 10/10

On that bombshell it's time to end. Thank you so much for watching...and Good Night


*plays "No Cars Go - Arcade Fire"
 
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Nice episode, only missing a section on the Escort Cosworth. But man, seeing the Lotus Cortina made up for it. Love that car! all in all, I think they really enjoyed making these films.

I didn't realize until the end that this was the last in the series. As I was watching the retrospective at the end, I started thinking 'are they going to show The Interceptors'? Oh well, still good. And good knowing it'll still be around, just in a different format. (I'll really miss Conversation Street, though!) Top Gear U.S. did fine with the all-adventure format, and I'm sure TGT will be fine too.

Living in Canada, I didn't get to see the 2002 era right from the beginning, but close enough, once I discovered the magic of certain car forums and FTP. ;) So many people helped us non-BBC having non-Brits! I even got to help here way back when by providing some obscure stuff I found on eMule and other programs. Fun times. :)

Remember when Andy Wilman himself turned up here and urged us to watch whatever episode/special it was (sorry, can't remember) by any means necessary, basically?
 
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Can we have the poll go to 11 for this one? It was something very very special....

Definitely 10/10 and probably the best episode of Grand Tour ever.

I was tearing up during that funeral scene, but was all but crying during the farewell and montage.
 
I didn't care about the Ford funeral or the cars since its just average cars. But I do really care about those three men & when they show the montage of Top Gear & TGT, that was quite emotional ? ? Good episode though.
 
That was a worthy ending of one of the most iconic and most successful TV format of all times. Thinking that a show around cars could ever be such a success, would have never occurred to me.

This last episode of season 3 was both touching and very interesting. And yes, in the end, I also had a tear in my eye...

No matter how long they're still going on with using the name "Top Gear" on BBC - it ended for me today...

A part of me regrets that they're stopping it now, just when they found their rhythm again... but another part of me says that they can still do so much more... Jeremy is right, there are lots of places in the world where they haven't been yet.

Now looking forward to Season 4 :)
 
The episode, the first 45 minutes, were mediocre. I actually had a Ford (nice turbo swapped Focus) but never managed to fall in love too much with it.
The funeral part, however, started to indicate where things were going and Jeremy actually crying at the end made me cry too.
Wife said I got something in my eye :\
Hopefully the Mark III TG/GT/TGT/GTG or however they put it will be even more epic, and yet with the same trio of old men falling over.
Will wait and see.
 
The Ford film was brilliant. I have a soft spot for the Sierra RS Cosworth and the Mondeo (the Mondeo is so rare in India, I've seen more Lamborghinis than Mondeos, and I always look back at it whenever I see one). And it wasn't just the cars that were amazing, it was the childhood stories of Jeremy and James that I really liked.

Conversation Street was also pretty good. I'll be sad to see this go as I really enjoyed this segment.

The funeral scene is what really scored high for me. Seeing all the cars turn up, seeing all the owners praying in the church and sharing their childhood photos, such a fitting end to the last episode of the series. And if that wasn't already enough, the final montage and seeing Jeremy on the verge of crying had me almost crying too. They're definitely ending the show as we know it on a high note. I have to give this one an 11 out of 10.
 
I agree that this is the end of the era that begun in 2002. Watching Clarkson tear up on TV was not something I expected.

While we don't have the company car culture that they have in the UK, I recognized every bit of the discussion about trim levels and body colored bumpers and the like. It continues to this day - my Insignia is a biturbo, which means dual exhaust tips on both sides of the bumper. A lowly single turbo diesel only gets one exhaust tip.

My 1.4 TSI Octavia had two tips next to each other while the 1.2 only got one and a blanking plate in the bumper cutout. The 1.8 TSI got chromed tips. They all just read "TSI" on the back, though. You've got to be a huge car bore to spot the difference.

My Sierra GL had black plastic bumpers, but I DID have rear headrests. And a sunroof. ?

The trim level hierarchy in the UK seems to be on a whole different level though - every car maker seems to offer trim levels like "SE" and "SE NAV" in the UK market. It makes sense, I guess. How else are you going to compare your Mazda CX-3 to your Neighbor's Qashqai?
 
A rather emotional ending and as for Jeremy Clarkson tearing up this was his baby when he created the present format way back in 2002 with Top Gear. I also gave this an 11 and if the next season has specials similar to Mongolia etc. then we are in for a great time.

A large part of The Grand Tour and Top Gear was the audience interaction and yes it will be strange at first but many of there big specials there was a short introduction and no interaction.

At least the guys are willing to change which a certain other show should have done a while back but the most important thing anyway is the interaction of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May and hopefully we will have that for a long time to come.
 
If it wasn't for the Mongolia special, I wouldn't hesitated to have hit the 10 or even 11 - but the fact is the episode wasn't on the same level.
It's gotta be a 9 for me. The strongest possible 9. If I could rate in halves, possible even a 9.5. But the bittersweet nature of this being the last studio show has only just started to hit. It's like S22E08 of TG, which is similarly a 9.5 in my book. It can't be perfect because it's the end.
 
Y'know, I didn't think I'd care much about the (potential) end of the Mondeo, or the end of the tent. Well, I was fighting back the tears for both. That was a fantastic episode. The Ford documentary segments were superb and I realised that I've generally dismissed their cars myself, despite my dad and grandads having Cortinas, Capris, Escorts, a Sierra and Fiestas. They still don't make a car I would actually buy... but I'll never be your average car buyer. I'm guessing the 1600E is actually Clarkson's car, if not the JCC prefix on the plate is a massive coincidence.

It's a shame that the audience involvement part of the show is going, as it's one of the things that has always worked really well. The track I can take or leave, but it would've been nice to have Abbie in the tent with them for the final episode. She was more than the Stig or the American so it would've been nice to at least thank her on camera. As I've said in another thread, I look forward to the good parts of the next season, I just hope that it isn't all contrived cocking about.
 
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