Wheeler Dealers
 

Just watched the first episode with Ant instead of Edd China. Would have been ok but..... They put a third wing on the back of a Ford Escort. Yes it was a Cosworth but $5000 for a wing. :eek::eek: No car needs 3 wings. They need to do better if I am going to keep watching.

I thought Ant did well, explaining stuff the normal person would understand.

Until the wing bs.

I'm hoping it was removeable.

And $20K more to buy you ur car back? Ouch.

I agree. I saw Ant on some other show they were using I guess as an introduction. He seems to be a good wrench. Its like they needed to fill air time so they did the wing stuff. I will watch again but they need to get better.

That wing is ridiculous. The Ant guy not too bad. Miss Edd.

He never even raised the car up to see the oil leak before declaring he was going to pull the engine and trans. Maybe that's the editing that caused Ed to quit?

I watched it too and thought Ant did pretty well. There seemed to be an excess of shots of him backing bolts out with a ratchet. Overall they didn't cut out as much of the mechanical stuff as I expected, which is a good thing.

I thought bringing in the designer of the car was a nice touch, never would have seen that on the old WD.

I have liked their move to the dry SW of the USA...the cars in the wet UK were always such a corroded mess under the bonnet.

Sorry but it put me to sleep.

Edd was the reason to watch the show. In his absence, all the other flaws stand out. Especially Mike.

Same here but I'll give it a shot.

I too thought the wing was BS, especially him using strapping and wood. It wasnt until the end when you saw he was making a mold/template. I thought the fiberglass fitting was interesting but some explanation of the end state would have been helpful.

Also pretty funny to see a pan gasket require engine out, maybe it does but... oh well, its not as much education as entertainment I guess.

Cool car, only know the basics about them.

My thoughts also. Edd > Ant.

I miss Edd climbing into tiny cars.

I miss Edd getting grayer and taller each episode.

Some of you may know and have watched him with another guy in a very similar format " For the love of cars" - I think it is almost as good as the earlier WD with Ed.

That's because Mike is getting shorter and fatter.

^^^still laughing - Thanks 'yel'

Edd would occasionally take engines out for seemingly simple services. My guess? It's better/easier to film that way.

I was ready to dismiss this show now that Edd's gone, but this Ant guy wasn't all that bad. Yeah, the triple wing on the Escort was a bit much, but I have to admire the guy's skills at being able to build it from scratch the way he did.

I thought it a bit odd that Ant was wrenching on the car while wearing what appeared to be a decent-looking wristwatch. And that he wasn't wearing protective gloves...even while cleaning parts in solvent.

I thought that much of Edd's reason for leaving the show was because they were going to limit the amount of time actually spent working on the cars. I thought this first episode still spent as much time in the shop as they always did.

Still miss Edd though...

[QUOTE=rcooled;9764425]
I thought that much of Edd's reason for leaving the show was because they were going to limit the amount of time actually spent working on the cars. I thought this first episode still spent as much time in the shop as they always did.

QUOTE]

Correct. It was the removal of the 'how to' that caused Edd grief. That and a little product placement that was pending.

In case anyone missed it:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8IB15T1LYiY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Based on "For the Love of Cars", it appears Ant pays a lot more attention to detail, where as Ed was trying to get the cars mechanically sound to resell.

The show has definitely drifted from the original purpose.

I will keep watching.

The wrench in the mouth was a good one, I've never tried that. One thing about the show I've always like was the variety of cars, especially those I'm unfamiliar with. If they keep a good mix I'll keep watching. One thing Edd did really well was explain what and why as he worked, I appreciated that.

I lost interest as production quality increased.

In the first episode Ant was surprised there was no pan gasket and then goes into great detail on why that motor can't have a pan gasket. Was that me miss hearing something? In any case Ant has a different personality so far I don't like it as much as Edd's. Adding the wing was ridiculous. If hear again the how and why a turbo works I'm not going to watch the show again - really, we don't know how a turbo works? It can be explained in one sentence not 10 minutes of drawing pictures. That was in there to fill show time with cheap production effort. I'll watch a few more shows and see if I warm up to the new guy enough to stand Mike.

I miss the old, original WDs. And Edd.

I think Ant is fine but I'll have to watch the episode again because I fell asleep. I have a feeling they kept more mechanical content due to the negative reaction to Edd leaving. I'd still rather watch an entire episode with just Edd (or Ant) working on cars and nixing Mike altogether.

I can't imagine why so many of you guys are complaining about the third wing. You did see the segment with Ant meeting with one of the original designers of the Escort RS Cosworth, didn't you?

I thought that whole aspect of the episode was very well done. All the way through to completion.

I just discovered we have Velocity a coupla weeks ago (it's Ch. 403 and I don't know how long it's been part of our TWC package) and have been enjoying it from time to time. I find a lot to like in all the shows. Sure, I could do without the deadline drama and horsing around, but gahhhh... it's so easy to appreciate the parts I like, I can overlook the goofy stuff. Maybe read the paper or do bills/paperwork, etc.

I think I've seen probably 15-20 of older episodes of WD. Liked them all.

I agree. Seems like you guys missed that they did it b/c the original designer of the car said that was his preferred design that got scrapped by Ford due to cost. If Ant or Mike had just conjured it up I agree it would be stupid but because of the situation I thought it was some cool fabrication to see him build it in.

+1

AND it added over 20lbs of down force!

I agree that if Mike and Ant had just dreamt this up it would have been stupid.


Noticed the product placement for Royal Purple. I wonder just how much more prevalent that will become.

Doesn't a third wing make the car 3X's awesome? Add dual out "fart cans" and oh man! Awesome times infinity!

It probably added 20 pounds downforce because it weighed 20 pounds. Looked goofy. Maybe thats why Ford never let him build it that way.

For me the OG / WD episodes speak to the everyman, the DIY guy who works with hand tools and has limited resources when bringing a classic back to life.

IE: In earlier segments, they would clean a wheel, sand or scuff then paint it with a spray can. Later you see them visiting some specialty place, drop or exchange the wheels for some ready-to-go bling.

That was where the charm and DIY connection started to wane for some viewers. In those shows the original facility was very modest and showed him largely using hand tools.

I seem to recall that the original voice over spoke about bringing 'modern classics' back to life. I miss that part. Picking up a 924 or a GTI for about a grand and making it road worthy again.

This week was cool since that is a cool car. However, it has definitely moved the show further from its roots with the $30k start price.

Even when they bought the 911 Targa they only spent around 5k (pounds I believe).

Also, I liked the original angle where they were getting/working on cars that were not imported to the US. I still watch but am not nearly as interested in the US stuff. There are already shows that do those ad nauseam.

Ditto. Not a fan of how the wing looks but it certainly was relevant given the designer's interview, and the wuality of Ant's work. I like Edd China a lot, I hope he gets his own show. In fact I was thinking a WD show with Edd and Ant and no Mike would be about perfect !

It won't really be wheeler dealers unless the guy screws up his hair and learns to use a rattle can ;)
I watched it, they were way too excited about that little car.
Not too impressed yet, maybe it'll grow on me.

at 100 mph.

we all drive 100 mph all the time :rolleyes:

at least they didn't paint it metal flake orange or put a rain drop wrap on it.
Sometimes ed screwed up the cars worse than they started out.

For those who did not "get" the car, it' s more of an icon in Europe obviously (along with a sierra cosworth and things like the lancia delta integrale) - Ken block aka Hoonigan just bought one, so you are about to get very familiar with it if you ever watch the gymkhana videos...

Or snakeskin application no the wheels.

I was thinking the same thing about the downforce at 100mph when watching it. That would have been great for the actual rally car but the road homologation car not sure why unless you just wanted to look cool. (assuming it was homologated)

I get the car. I lived in the UK when the Sierra Cosworth was around.

BUT I don't get $50k for a Ford. I wonder if they are cheaper in Europe.

Edit: answered my own question. Here is one in UK for 69k pounds. Jeez. Cheapest one on that site for sale was in the 30's

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201709139253685?make=FORD&model=ESCORT&logcode=p

I liked it. 5k for a wing is silly but whatever. Surprised they didn't swap turbos and give it an easy 30-50hp boost. They went to all the trouble to get it in a wind tunnel. Why not a dyno with a before and after scenario?

I watched Edd because he truly fixed things, not swapped for aftermarket stuff, and was concerned with having a nice car VS a hacked up pimped aftermarket loaded mess.

Velocity channel is just a giant infomercial for Edelbrock, Chevy parts and Magnaflow. Soon, Wheeler Dealers will be as well.

rjp

wtf is a third wing?

It's a lot like a third testicle.