Great show. 10/10
Very scripted though (land cruiser, passing on the death road with one of their support vehicles)
But very funny and scripted shows can be funny. Some jokes are getting old though and need to be retired.
I know two people (Mark and LT from Metal Tech) that were sent down there to help work on the FJ40. It was bought in terrible condition so they could use the "only toyota in the world that doesn't work joke" and they weren't allowed to change any of that just keep it running.
Three companies were actually brought in for this Antofaya Expeditions, Wild Trackers and Metal Tech.
Here is one of the statements that LT made
"For those of you that don't watch Top Gear on the BBC, Mark and I were privileged to be apart of the show. It started out with them contacting us about a roll cage which spiraled into loading on a pallet a cut and turned FJ40 housing, spring over parts, high steer, trail ready bead locks, 30 spline longfields, metal tech nose guard and stinger.
Mark flew down to Bolivia initially to help prep the 3 vehicles, '74 FJ40, '84 Range Rover, '91 Suzuki Samurai. He then proceeded to head down into the jungle along with 2 other British mechanics to help keep the vehicles going. I got a call from Mark right after I got home from Offroad Expo saying I needed to book my flight in two days and head to Bolivia. I met up with them just as they were doing the death road. Mark and I did all the work on the FJ40 for the big build up and I proceeded to continue on with the production crew into Chile while Mark flew back home. It was quite a challenge for both Mark and I since the hours were long and hard but if asked to do it again I would do it in a heart beat. "
Seeing the year difference in the vehicles is refreshing and should have been brought up in the reliability wars (which the suzuki really won).
Had they all been the same vintage it would have turned out differently.
Some pics from Mark
Nice home made snorkle in the Rover