Off With The Edd

I don’t know why but I felt slightly sad when I heard this week that Edd China, the towering mechanic from Wheeler Dealers, has left the show due to ‘artistic differences’. Having watched the show from the very beginning, over the years I came to see him as a sort of sage mentor offering me insight and tips to help me avoid tragic issues when fettling my classic.

Apparently, Velocity, the new producers, want fiddle with the format dumbing down the technical bits because they’re difficult and time consuming to film. This decision made regardless of the fact that these segments are the most enjoyable element of the show. Especially to those who actually like cars and are watching in active, learning mode. 

Apparently this change is due to the continued success of the programme where it has grown from niche cable viewing with a mainly UK audience, to one which is shown all over the world. Talk about being a victim of one's success but it’s probably been brewing for a while.

Such a shame.  I can now see becoming over dramatised and awkwardly edited to accommodate multiple US advert breaks. It will become littered with engineered incidents and replete with unnecessary dramas, imaginary deadlines and overblown cliff-hangers. Just look at shows like Sin City Motors or Fast N’ Loud as examples of that type of format. Oh dear…

I also suspect that more emphasis will go onto Mike Brewer as the cheeky British chappie that the Americans seem to like so much.

As for me, I prefer the depiction of an Englishman; King of his shed fettling his motor, attending to the details and stoically doing the job properly. That, alas, was Edd’s former role.

The new boy is Ant Anstead a well-respected car restorer who will no doubt do an excellent job of the resto’s. However, it’s sure we’ll see less of him and his socket set than we’re used to. That’s probably one of the main reasons I’ll watch: to see the difference. Who knows, it might be like when they change Dr Who: awkward for a while then you don’t notice the difference. I doubt it though.

Wheeler Dealers is the Daddy of car restoration shows TV. Well before this format became the vogue, Mike and Edd have been buying cars, doing them up and flogging them on effectively defining the tone and content of these types of show. It mattered not that cockney geezer Mike often buys cars of dubious quality and doesn't pay Edd a penny in labour to offset the profits.

Over the years they've done up many cars and have progressed from car-lot lemons to high-end motors as their budgets and popularity have increased. Although they have flexed the format over time, the main USP in this show was we saw the restoration being work done in useful detail.  And in that role Edd’s stature grew from backroom boy to greasy-gloved co-host to the benefit of the show to my mind.

I can honestly say I've found Edd's various advices useful as he tackled the oily fingered problems that Mike failed to spot on his buying journeys. In doing so, he has offered some genuinely useful hints and tips when dealing with complex engineering issues.

So, if we no longer find Wheeler Dealers to our taste, what are the alternatives?  Here’s my view of a couple of rival shows that might fill the void.

For the Love of Cars

Channel Four gave this a Sunday night 'Top Gear' airing slot perhaps because they assumed there was a population of blokes going cold turkey for some petrol-head action whilst this other troubled show was is off the air . To my mind, this is done to good effect. As required by the format there's a technical/none-technical duo the former being Philip Glennister, who banters with grease monkey Ant Anstead whose job it is to find rare and interesting motors to do up and flog.

The dynamic is a bit different in this format as Glennister doesn't do a great deal of the heavy lifting but gets to drive the cars, meets experts and owners and narrates interesting background info' about the chosen motors. 

Ant tends to buy the cars and required parts and remains locked in his garage to do the work only emerging to go to various suppliers as the car work progresses and as part of the final triumphant drive of the gleaming results. There is some technical detail but not much.

Overall, the format works well. There's some genuine passion from all involved and the quality of the resulting motors is high meaning they fetched eye-watering prices when sold at auction in the final show. Now Anstead has jumped ship I wonder if series three will ensue – with Edd perhaps!

Car SOS

A few years ago, someone in the Channel 4 organisation thought they'd invoke the classic car zeitgeist by offering another, more philanthropic, programme format. In this effort, they try to pull at our heartstrings by secretly stealing the neglected classics of various people who have had bad luck, do them up in secret and conclude the show with a big emotional reveal to the (hopefully) astonished owner.

Again, it's a two-man effort with Tim Shaw as the roving parts procurer and Fuzz Townshend as the man with the spanners. Luckily, both are competent and likeable and we do get to see some involving engineering that appeals to the hard-core petrol head.

Glossing over the fact that what you're witnessing might be defined as a managed TWOC 'ing or the equivalent of breaking into a house and decorating it, the show does try to take us through the process of restoring, finding parts and doing authentic, good quality work on some interesting and rare cars. It even uses some very creative ruses to cover up the 'crime' and get the clueless owners in situ for the final unveiling.

As they are now getting on for nearly 100 cars restored, hopefully this means Channel 4 have faith in the format and will continue to produce it.

It’s interesting that Channel 5 have also had a few goes at this format.  They’ve offered, The Classic Car Show, The Cars That Made Britain Great and the woeful Classic Car Crisis.  None have hit the mark to my mind and have not achieved any longevity. However, Channel Five Executives do note, if you fancy another go, there’s a tall, TV seasoned mechanic recently come available.  Just a thought…

Here’s to the new!

So it’s so long and thanks to Edd for the time being. I’m sure another format will be developed for us to enjoy his informed ministrations and, as long as the classic car zeitgeist remains strong, I hope there’ll be a production company willing to develop and commit the necessary resources to provide what we really want: good engineering coverage delivered in an amiable and generous fashion.