Top Gear in America's redneck country

[Blue_Tires]

Traditionally, the question asked of me when I meet anyone for the first time has been: “So what’s the best car you’ve ever driven?” Recently there’s been a change, the new question running thus: “Did you really or was it made up for the telly?”

And for roughly a quarter of a year, maybe more, the new question was: “Were you really chased out of town by those American rednecks, or was it made up for the telly?” In the programme in question, we wanted to know if it was possible to buy a car and drive across a chunk of the USA for less money than the cost of traditional “fly-drive” schemes offered by holiday companies.

It’s a pretty lengthy story, but in the course of our trip, by way of an entertaining diversion to keep up our spirits during an especially lengthy drive, we had devised a plan whereby we would each try to get the others killed.

We would each decorate the others’ vehicles with slogans we felt might stir up the feelings of the locals, cause maximum discomfort to each driver and raise a laugh for the viewer at home. And so, in a broad, dusty lay-by at the side of a road leading to Alabama, we parked up and set to with the paintbrushes, spray cans and stencils.

On the side of Jeremy’s ageing, beaten-up Trans Am I painted the legend, “Country music is rubbish”. Jeremy had adorned the flanks of James’s 1970s Cadillac with “Hillary for president” and “Nascar sucks”.

I laughed at the slogans with Jeremy as we stood under the tall, smooth-barked trees and sheltered from the southern sun. James was still finishing the lettering on the side of my white pick-up truck and I didn’t want to spoil the moment by peeking before his work was done. Eventually, with a confident flourish of the brush, and a grin, James indicated that he had completed his masterpiece. We stepped up and surveyed. Along the side of my truck James had painted just four short words: “Man love rules OK”.

much, much more trainwrecky LOL goodness at the link:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/driving/features/article6858884.ece

[MorningGlow]

1. That episode was classic

Terrifying! And, as Richard said, they only aired a small fraction of what they went through. YIKES. :scared: I can't wait to read more about it next week... :evilgrin:

Of course, the bad part is that now the rest of the world really believes that the entire United States is a bad stereotype of backwoods Alabama...

[Blue_Tires]

2. kick

[Tripper11]

3. Great paragraph from article

"I didn’t want to wake up tied to a tree, being invited to squeal like a little piggy for the entertainment of a 20-year-old psychopath in giant dun­ga­rees, with three teeth in his head and a bitter hatred of anyone who wasn’t also a 30-stone homophobic racist who shot at things he didn’t understand."

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

Poor bastards! I know they risked their lives, but that episode was, hands down, one of the best ever!

[LeftinOH]

4. I loved that one- the hick woman who announced how dangerous it was to

go to a "hick town" with such inflammatory words written on their vehicles- and just to prove how dangerous it was, she said "I'm callin' the boys!"

[A HERETIC I AM]

5. You Tube clip of that segment;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2syY12OPkwI