# "Top Gear" - how much money do they have, anyway? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 28, 2013, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-how-much-money-do-they-have-anyway/651599 "2013-02-28T04:26:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2013, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-how-much-money-do-they-have-anyway/651599/41 "2013-03-02T04:04:37Z")
It’s going to take a lot of self restraint to not watch the first half and save it all for one go but it’ll be worth it. ---
**Author:** ![Wallaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Wallaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallaby)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2013, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-how-much-money-do-they-have-anyway/651599/42 "2013-03-02T04:57:21Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I tried to watch the American version of Top Gear, but it was boring compared to the original. A big part of the appeal is the chemistry among the three (and Clarkson’s bluster). Ditto the Australian version - worthy, but lame. The second series was actually a bit better, because they included a professional comedian. I always say Top Gear is NOT a car program - it’s a comedy program built around cars. And like the best comedies it has excellent writing, a good formula and a cast perfectly suited to then format. OK, maybe it’s getting a bit tired, but it has the advantage that there is always a new subject (car and car-related topic) to build a show around. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2013, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-how-much-money-do-they-have-anyway/651599/43 "2013-03-04T00:59:33Z")
> [@Pushkin](#): > > Why do Americans always assume that Clarkson has it in for their country? Yes, he does bash cars from other countries, as much as American cars ([Mexico in particular springs to mind](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-12338053)) if not more, how many American cars make it to the UK after all? He doesn’t bash American cars; he bashes American people. Or, not really _bashes_, but insults - cf his comment about rugby being like American football, but played by men. Once he told a young woman in the audience “You can’t be American, you’re not nearly fat enough.” Stuff like that. He and the other guys are actually pretty fair when it comes to American cars, praising what Detroit does well and damning what it doesn’t. Not that that really bother me, mind you. I get that his persona is the curmudgeonly old God-and-Empire Englishman, who looks back to the glory days when men were men and Britain - excuse me, I mean _England_ - ruled the lesser races. The only anti-American thing _Top Gear_ ever did that really pissed me off was during their tour of the American South, when they used creative ediiting to turn the scene of a couple of Alabamans hollering at them about the “Man love is OK” and “NASCAR sucks” slogans painted on their cars, into a full-fledged assault by stone-throwing rednecks bent on lynching them furren bastids. Just didn’t happen that way, but hey, we make fun of Alabama, too. And I don’t think that was as offensive to us Southerners as flying to Germany in Spitfires or sending a prison bus to pick up the hosts of the Australian _Top Gear_ when they came to England was. > [@GuanoLad](#): > > It’s fun to follow them all on Twitter, as they will often have conversations between each other where they constantly bicker and insult each other in exactly the same way they do on the show. > > I don’t think that’s true at all. They don’t seem to respect each other’s views much, but enjoy each other’s company just fine - they spend a lot of the year in close contact and if they genuinely couldn’t stand each other that wouldn’t happen. May and Clarkson seemed really shaken and scared when Hammond had his big crash. > [@Glazer](#): > > Besides if the BBC doesn’t cough up the cash Clarkson will get another small Italian car and drive it through their News Room again. That wasn’t an Italian car, it was a Peel P50, built on the Isle of Man. Arguably the funniest _Top Gear_ ever. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2013, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-how-much-money-do-they-have-anyway/651599/44 "2013-03-04T01:12:28Z")
I always wondered what the Robin Reliant Space Shuttle program cost. That rocket launch is one of the most impressive videos I’ve seen in years. Unfortunately the Youtube version resolution sucks. If I ever win the mega lottery I am gonna pay those guys to do that over till they get it to work. ---
**Author:** ![Glazer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a88e57/32.png) [@Glazer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glazer)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2013, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-how-much-money-do-they-have-anyway/651599/45 "2013-03-04T01:25:48Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > That wasn’t an Italian car, it was a Peel P50, built on the Isle of Man. Arguably the funniest _Top Gear_ ever. You mean someone other than the Italians build crap like that? ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2013, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-how-much-money-do-they-have-anyway/651599/46 "2013-03-04T02:08:08Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > The only anti-American thing _Top Gear_ ever did that really pissed me off was during their tour of the American South, when they used creative ediiting to turn the scene of a couple of Alabamans hollering at them about the “Man love is OK” and “NASCAR sucks” slogans painted on their cars, into a full-fledged assault by stone-throwing rednecks bent on lynching them furren bastids. Just didn’t happen that way, but hey, we make fun of Alabama, too. What was the real story and how do I find out about it, because the stuff they showed was pretty damning. And having lived in Alabama for awhile, I really can’t say it was all that surprising. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2013, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-how-much-money-do-they-have-anyway/651599/47 "2013-03-06T13:54:06Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > That wasn’t an Italian car, it was a Peel P50, built on the Isle of Man. Arguably the funniest _Top Gear_ ever. Odd that they build a small car like that on an island with no speed limit. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-how-much-money-do-they-have-anyway/651599.md?page=2)