Car-Builder John Hennessy on Working with Top Gear and The Grand Tour

[@jeffburton289]

Would absolutely love to see Jeremy Clarkson on JRE. Would be a top 3 podcast without a doubt.

[@colbyzur4642]

My dream is for all 3 to go on together I think it would be a top tier JRE episode

[@jmatthew3432]

Jezza Clarkson would be one of the best episodes I wish he did Peter Kay aswell Joe would love that comedian to comedian

[@whisky3412]

That would be amazing

[@matthewhiggs4805]

​​@@johnsmith5010 ?

[@crispynotburnt]

Absolutely, this is my dream. JOE PLEASE MAKE THIS HAPPEN!!

[@Alex-yz7cj]

Top gear in its prime was one of the greatest shows ever

[@underthetrees4780]

The Grand Tour has had some moments too, the boats in Vietnam was as good as ever.

[@ross3901]

The one where they tested the green ford fiesta after someone complained they don't test normal cars was excellent.

[@babybluesky9238]

@@underthetrees4780 the grand tour succeeded at several emotional moments in travel but top gear was all about british blokes car careers

[@mursuka80]

300 million weekly viewers. BBC did one of the biggest blunders ever by firing Clarkson.

[@ComicusFreemanius]

I feel like them shooting in low definition really set them back. I mean I still watch repeats but if there was an HD version it would probably gain popularity despite being cancelled.

[@urbanapache2]

Worked in a pub in England, Top gear on Sundays... Huge hit.

[@High_Key]

Top Gear with Jeremy, Hammond, and James was literally the best show on earth. The season specials they did towards the later seasons were pure magic.

[@ivanjulian2532]

Ahhh there it is.... the word "literally". Easily the MOST overused word on KZbin. Edited to add: Geezus, check out all the princesses who are triggered by my comment.

[@JordyDeschamps]

@@ivanjulian2532 Yes? That’s why its a word? It’s there to be used.

[@DrSpaceman42]

@@ivanjulian2532 literally

[@Trump-jv8xf]

They were also anti American, incorrect on car facts, and racist. Screw top gear!

[@tobiasmccallum9697]

​@@ivanjulian2532 It's LITERALLY the most viewed TV show of all time in ratings

[@vastsleep7152]

Jeremy Clarkson on JRE would easily be one of the greatest shows without a doubt. The crazy stories and details that could be told would be insane

[@mooney228]

It's a once-in-a-generation chemistry I feel

[@Alexander-vo4gv]

literally the best podcast ever made

[@doshwrx3776]

Yeah that’s got to happen

[@snow4days]

I especially want to hear about assaulting people he works with

[@Haveuseenmyjetpack]

If you’d just commited to “the best” you would have doubled your likes hee hee

[@jeshanew2183]

Clarkson on the JRE will literally be one of the greatest podcast episodes ever. Make it happen Joe!

[@Andreas0705]

I'm not sure it's the best idea

[@TheIronDuke9]

"literally"

[@TheGiftRF]

Can we get Jeremy Clarkson on the pod? I'd love to hear some more stories from his life on the farm

[@ModeX9]

You mean life on the lamb

[@Kewrock]

@@delver1857 He may smoke cigs. But I doubt hes a pothead.

[@Hardcastle83]

I could see Joe clashing with Clarkson, professional comedian Joe wouldn't get when he was joking, for real.

[@tehjamerz]

"The pod" get fukt

[@dumptodreamhome2630]

Jezza and Joe!!

[@aaronsimpson2547]

As a Brit that grew up watching Top Gear, it’s extremely entertaining seeing how the rest of the world perceive British satire and humour. It’s an open secret that TG was a sketch show presented as a documentary. Everything was usually a joke but it was usually only the UK laughing😂

[@gizzardfan7349]

You wish. It takes a least one yank to make a Python.

[@tonytricks]

It makes me laugh,a lot,when people take J,Clarkson seriously,he's playing a character,not being himself.

[@MudcatChris]

Eh, as an American I laughed at every episode. TG is dead to me, GT is the superior show. The 3 boys are a treasure

[@enteraqua]

Most everyone around the world was laughing, mate. Except the Argentines.

[@exxhy9707]

I'm from Argentina, started watching Mitch & Cam recently and it hit me, you brits have levels of sarcasm and irony/self-deprecation only a trained eye can catch

[@lukeysharp94]

The episode when they strapped a Reliant Robin to some rockets, will always be peak Top Gear for me

[@twaito]

Agreed. May and Hammonds faces as the robin shuttle took off was awesome.

[@Mypenisissmallbut]

Nahhhh that was before all the specials what’re you on about. I find myself watching seasons 8-22 the most.

[@TimothyBoersma99]

For me personally Top Gear is the greatest TV show ever by a country mile. The humour, the chemistry between the three, the challenges and specials, the guests and short documentaries. They went to the freaking North Pole in a Toyota! Didn't expect Joe would bring up the Tesla fiasco, out of all the things Top Gear has done. Most of the show is entertainment and pure satire. They made fun of literally every car brand in the world. Clarkson's criticisms on Rover was a major cause in it's decline. They've been mocking Toyota for the Prius, campervans and caravans, the Dacia Sandero and so on for years and years. The Toyota Prius is one of the best selling cars of all time. There are huge amounts of caravans and campervans in the UK alone, the Sandero huge amounts of exposure thanks to mainly James May. Pity to see a (American) comedian butthurt about the Tesla case. Must have been filled in by his best bud Elon. Would love to see Clarkson on JRE, that episode would get a huge number of views and possibly Jeremy's final act on the internet if you give him three hours to talk about anything he likes🤣. Don't think Hammond would do it, no way May would do anything this big.

[@pauldkb1700]

It's like doing all those things with your best friends whilst you all take the piss and play pranks on each other the whole way through

[@leull]

First time I felt joe was biased on this on for his friend Elon

[@philiproseel3506]

Yup. Don't care what they reveal about Top Gear. Greatest show ever.

[@leull]

@@philiproseel3506 💯 %

[@JobiWan144]

Clarkson's final act on the Internet? He's 63 years old, not 83. I honestly believe what James May said recently: they're going to keep going as a trio until one of them kicks the bucket.

[@jopo7996]

I'd love to see Richard Hammond on JRE, but after 2 minutes the podcast studio would be flipped upside down and on fire.

[@kevboard]

😂

[@kopanosydneyseeletso5013]

Touché, thats a good one

[@Si_Mondo]

And all he would have done is sit down! 😂

[@TheCrazyDcoolest]

This is assuming he’s tall enough to reach the mic first

[@jasonh8043]

LMAO !! Good one ! Not that I ever want any of them to get hurt...but he is accident prone !

[@007Spadge]

2002 to 2016 Top Gear was lightning in a bottle. One of my favorite shows, I don't know what else comes close. The chemistry between these three presenters, just f*ck*ng adore it

[@lampad4549]

QI is funnier

[@superguyx5468]

@@lampad4549shut it 🤣🤣

[@RWL2012]

2002 was Clarkson/Hammond/Dawe and 2003-2015 was Clarkson/Hammond/May Top Gear. 2016 was Chris Evans Top Gear (and the start of The Grand Tour).

[@preparetobedazled]

I LOVE how offended Joe is that the Top Gear lads made fun of Tesla. Bro, they've made fun of every car company ever. And probably every human race too.

[@YoosufMuneer]

Making fun of Tesla is very different from lying about what happened

[@SoheiBenkei]

It was a way of pointing out the problems with electric cars, which they've done with every single electric car they've tested.

[@YoosufMuneer]

@@SoheiBenkei Nope. They just lied.

[@steven7169]

​@@YoosufMuneer prove it

[@Halbared]

Quite. The court case seems rather silly.

[@davemayers9342]

Clarkson is a living legend. Joe and Jeremy together? pure gold.

[@John_Doe62]

Imagine if the trio start their own podcast where they're just talking, like they did on "the news"

[@ELNinoLuke]

He's actually a complete dick. We'll documented

[@CenturionMacro]

Nah Joe wouldn’t understand him or his sense of humour, this is a clear indication of that

[@John_Doe62]

@@CenturionMacro Yes I kind think Jeremy would get irritated by Joe

[@iDropPhats]

Those 3 are the kings of content on TV. Such a good trio, they’d do anything just for their audience.

[@ChrisMix]

I know, they weren't doing stuff just to get ratings - it's not like USA, their first priority was to have a laugh

[@Frank_Simmons0000]

Please invite jeremy clarkson. That episode would be crazy 😂

[@8thParallel]

I would watch it 1000 times over

[@johnbroadfoot5148]

That would require clarkson to go to America. 😂

[@rahulsudhir666]

​@@johnbroadfoot5148 The American, Hammond, probably will hop on a flight real quick 🤣🤣

[@BLOXKAFELLARECORDS]

​@@rahulsudhir666 Hey I see your a member of the LGBQT community 🌈 We support you still bro. Brave of you.

[@rahulsudhir666]

@@BLOXKAFELLARECORDS Wait, what? 🤔🤣

[@Tarzanjunglekungfu]

The Argentina thing was over the license plate. Not stuff written on their cars. The incident that got dangerous over stuff written on their cars was when they were in the South. Alabama or Georgia or something I don't remember the state.

[@peteroreilly4216]

It was Alabama

[@abrammedrano4392]

​@@peteroreilly4216 OH yes Alabama, state of the cousin bangers.

[@Nswix]

Btw, Alabama and Mississippi aren't known for having had incest. That was up in Appalachia, in tiny isolated mountain villages up in West Virginia. People just assume anyone with a southern accent has all the same stereotypes.

[@mrbutty143]

Yes they were wrong to do that if they did it in the county nearest to the UK they won't have got out

[@abrammedrano4392]

@@Nswix Alabama allows 1st cousins to get married.

[@guys783]

This guy is doing an excellent job of distorting what happen and jo is taking Avery word of it.

[@198EE4]

Yep. The title on the video isn’t accurate either. This guy barely interacted with the crew (if at all). All of his stories are second hand. I’m sure he met all the talent, but to pretend he has insight to the shows workings is asinine.

[@sceett]

How did he not even mention that Richard happened almost died crashing a jet car at 300mph and was in a coma 😅 Clarkson driving a truck into a wall was probably one of the lesser dangerous stunts they’ve done.

[@eats4cheaps305]

Because the Clarkson one was an intentional crash

[@thedunyadoneya2628]

They also didnt mention the american special they did, despite talking about how they did stuff for views etc. Weird

[@jake_adlay_24s90]

Or when he launched the rimac off a mountain in Switzerland if I remember correctly

[@Hallowedwanderer]

Or when they strapped Hammond to a chair to a plane in a classic car show 😂😂😂😂😂

[@LukaDeezNuts]

or the time Hammond crashed the Rimac prototype 😂

[@willemgroen7546]

Top Gear is the best tv show of all time

[@KingDomsKingdom85]

The specials!!!... my word are they perfect TV. The Bolivia one is my favourite, they have the best job ever.

[@notatroll78]

was

[@REAPER3fitty]

OG was

[@maacckknumero2316]

The Original series was mustard. There was a 5+ year waiting list to get to watch it live

[@rjdtwo]

was

[@filipmac5577]

Top Gear is the show that got me into becoming a car enthusiast. I was devastated when Clarkson, May, and Hammond left the show permanently. Top Gear was one of the best shows on TV!

[@swunt10]

The 3 still do the same it's just called The Grand Tour for legal reasons now (Amazon apparently couldn't buy the name Top Gear from the BBC)

[@filipmac5577]

@@swunt10 I am aware, the only difference is that GT sucks.

[@swunt10]

@@filipmac5577 It really doesn't. The Grand Tour is great just like old top gear. Give it a try, it's worth it.

[@cameronavon1337]

Man I grew up with top gear. It was just magic, counting down the days till Sunday for the new ep, felt like three mates on a gap year.

[@pauldkb1700]

Ya it's like when you were 20 and you all went on a lads holiday to Spain but you couldn't even explain to people the madness that went on when you came home haha

[@apathy9237]

I grew up watching Top Gear and still watch The Grand Tour. The way those dudes gave it their all was amazing. Theyre the best presenters and every now and again their tomfoolery did result in a good bit of real-world knowledge.

[@Maxsmack]

The chemistry has mostly carried over. I feels it’s not as good but I always watched for their personalities not so much the cars

[@TrulyUniqueOne]

The grand tour is too scripted

[@kylemilligan752]

Went out to Hennessy's place in 2001. His guys were super cool showing off their work and projects. Hennessy showed up and asked for 50 bucks for a tour. Turned around and left.

[@kayagorzan]

That’s unbelievable

[@kayagorzan]

@@dev1360 I meant it that the $50 fee was astonishing, like who does that?

[@airybrook]

He is a super sketchy guy.

[@kylemilligan752]

On the flip side, folks ready to spend a couple 100k wouldn't even blink. Hennessy had some cool employees though, really good guys.

[@jopo7996]

The amazing chemistry between Clarkson, Hammond and May, is something that can never be duplicated or improved.

[@natel7382]

Lol Henessy talks about everyone else, never about himself. I hope he talked about his cars more than other people he's met in the rest of the interview.

[@Seasniffer69]

@@natel7382 the people are far more important than the legacy machines they leave behind my guy.

[@natel7382]

@@Seasniffer69 Exactly my point. This whole video is him telling other people's experiences, because he was in close proximity. The f5 video isn't even 5 minutes long. This is my point.

[@alexcoyg3281]

Top Gear was #1 show of my childhood, it was everything i ever wanted from tv as a kid

[@alexfulton375]

Community notes here: The Argentina thing was a number plate "H982 FKL" - 1982 and Falklands. The presenters were rushed out under cover and flew home. The crew had to abandon the cars and drove at speed to the border with Chile and flew home from there. The writing things on cars came from the roadtrip across the southern states in one of the very early seasons. Things like "hilary for president" and "man love rules ok" had them chased by hillbillies out of town from a petrol station in Alabama.

[@damianheslop6380]

Top Gear with Clarkson, Hammond, and May, was the best show ever. True entertainment at its very best.

[@raven_of_zoso455]

The Falklands incident was not on purpose. The main reason for that was purely a coincidence due to Clarkson's license plate on his Porsche 928. He had deliberately chosen what car/model in advance to buying one, because the 928 is a fairly rare car that Jeremy has a sentimental connection with. It was just random that one of the two 928 models (with the specks he wanted) available in Britain at that time had a licence plate that read H982FKL, a reference to the 1982 Falklands war. Jeremy has said he didn't notice that connection until things started to heat up during the special. Also, one can find official info on the said car, that prove the licence plate was original with the car from its first registration many years prior the incident. The only way this could be deliberate was if Jeremy saw that car, noticed the licence plate, and thought, "Hey, let's buy that one and take that to Argentina." Which I frankly have trouble to believe, because of rarity of that car. Sometimes, the truth is stranger than fiction (the speculation if this was deliberate), and considering the odds at play here, I think that is just the case.

[@kingsamson9146]

Yup, that's how I understood the story behind as well. And what is more, in the UK the plate comes with the car I think, you buy the car with the plate. AFAIK you cannot change it easily.

[@TheCounty90]

Apparently the female researcher who found the car was really upset when it kicked off. No one noticed it. Could happen

[@raven_of_zoso455]

@@kingsamson9146 yes. That is quite a complicated and dreary process from what I have heard too.

[@StreetWarrior24]

There's an interview with James May where the radio DJ insists that it was intentional but May stands his ground - and gets very cross in the process.

[@raven_of_zoso455]

@@StreetWarrior24 I've seen it. Yes, I think a lot of people in this comment section should too.

[@ScottJohnson-u7i]

The Argentina episode was hilarious, same thing happened when they went to Vietnam doing a challenge against each other and to which ever car broke down first had to drive Vespas with the song “born in the USA” blasting through the speakers! 😂

[@bquick94]

The more recent tunnel speed test where James May hit the wall straight on was pretty nutty too.

[@raven_of_zoso455]

That happened just a bit off from where I live. Truly terrifying stuff seeing such a brilliant man and such a brilliant car smash into a wall of solid bedrock.

[@markfrancis5164]

For those who would like to know. Dunsfold aerodrome was a WWII fighter base that then became important in the 60’s & 70’s for Harrier JumpJet post production testing. The Harrier was manufactured in a Kingston factory by the Thames and then trucked in two pieces (wings and fuselage) then put together and engine started, tested & eventually airborne at Dunsfold before the aircraft were flown to its intended base.

[@fontainejohn]

wow that was immensely boring

[@jonlamontagne]

It's MacLaren's test track for their F1 team and their production cars

[@Dan-wo4bx]

@@fontainejohn lol slightly more interesting is a pilot crashed his plane off the end of the runway and as it went across a road he hit a car and killed the wife and kids of a fellow dunsfold pilot who just happened to be driving past .

[@them1ghtyalex]

​@@fontainejohnwhat was the point of that reply

[@jezwc]

Jezza and the lads were the best. Never watched Top Gear once they left. Clarkson's farm is also such a great show! Legends

[@Cymru85]

I gave the first new episode a chance but turned off after 10 min and never watched one since.

[@TrackingPonies]

@4:31 “They did all kinds of crooked sh*t.” So did you, Jon, so did you.

[@JB0143RP]

He is a well known crook

[@kevingrierson2331]

It sucks seeing someone that ripped so many people off get praised by every car publication.

[@autospeed]

Top gear was amazing. But having this scumbag piece of shit is not cool. Complete crook who robbed viper owners.

[@regularguy90]

Jeremey and James driving different trucks up a mountain to find Richard is one of my favorite episodes.

[@perth7930]

Bro which episode was that one

[@perperi31]

@@perth7930 canada episode, S22 e6

[@perth7930]

@@perperi31 thanks bro

[@zoogie980]

Yeah good episode, also the Raptor is fire

[@Madjiul]

For real and what made it hilarious is that 4x4s and off-roading is more Richards thing and he missed out😂

[@notthemessiah9243]

Jeremy has had one of the best jobs a man could ever have, driving the best cars around for the last four decades

[@realMaverickBuckley]

POWAHHHH

[@NAK5315]

​@@realMaverickBuckleyBABY JEZZUS

[@kdrapertrucker]

I wouldn't say the best cars, most exotics are pretty crappy cars, uncomfortable, not very reliable, etc. But you sacrifice for either performance (if you have access to a race track), or to show off how well off you are (if you do not have access to a racetrack)

[@Cymru85]

​@@kdrapertruckerthey drove everything, so some of those cars would be the best.

[@ironcladnomad5639]

They're still doing stuff for The Grand Tour, but it's pretty much exclusively their globetrotting specials. They did away with their live audiences, celebrity portions, car reviews, and the like. All three of those guys would be great guests on the show: Clarkson is a really dynamic personality, May is a keen dabbler and solid conversationalist, and Hammond is a lot of fun and has some great stories to share. Any of them would be cool, all three at once would be glorious chaos.

[@seanwilks7712]

Didn’t Amazon end their contracts with Clarkson after his Megan Markle comments?

[@MrHeavy466]

It would be scheduling hell, but I would love to see individual episodes of each one, culminating in a 1 on 3 interview with them all; in the same vein as the episodes with Joe and all his comedy friends.

[@KanyeT1306]

@@seanwilks7712 The two are unrelated. There was no reason given for the ending of their contracts, so we can only assume. The team are just getting old and have their own side projects now. It's been like one special a year at this rate, I think they are just ready to move on.

[@BleachDemon99]

I think May was a pot head, would love to see him baked explaining to Joe how a camshaft works

[@seanwilks7712]

@@BleachDemon99 May should make a ASMR podcast of him stoned explaining how things work and market it as a sleep aid sound.

[@fonz-ys6xu]

John "I'll take your money but not finish building your car, even though I've sold your stock parts online" Hennessey. No doubt about it, he builds some fast cars. But I wouldn't trust him. The reputation has been tarnished.

[@iggywow]

yeah I don't know much about him and I'm not really into cars but even I have a view of Hennessey being a bit shady

[@negativeindustrial]

That’s been a long-standing reputation, as well. I remember first hearing about that decades ago.

[@onefastboi14]

Yup it’s well known here locally that he’s got that sort of reputation. The people that don’t know him are usually the suckers going to him for getting work done. Viper community especially has a strong distain for him, and I can’t say I blame them. He’s done a lot of shady stuff and there’s no way I’d trust him with my car or my money.

[@_ThatGuyGus_]

I can't believe he's still in business let alone invited on podcasts

[@onefastboi14]

@@_ThatGuyGus_ probably has to do with the ridiculous stuff he makes on occasion so he can get new suckers. Most of the locals at least know not to go to him if they want actual legitimate performance work done.

[@visionary_rc7987]

ANY of the trio on JRE… that would be soooo good!

[@Underpantsniper]

That truck crash by jezza was nothing compared to Hammond's crash in the jet car.

[@brobocops]

Or Hammond crashing the Rimac.

[@cameroni6785]

Or Hammond crashing the black van.

[@1greener]

Or Hammond crashing Mozambique motorcycle .

[@crumpets2966]

Or Hammond crashing the Chinese 3 wheeler

[@DFle-yk5jn]

Or Hammond crashing my brother's wedding 💒

[@KanyeT1306]

The "message" written on the cars in Argentina were not scrawled on with a pen or a sticker on the wheel arch, it was the license plate from the UK. Apparently it was a pure accident/coincidence that the license plate references the Falkland Wars (H982 FKL), and I heard you can even check the cars registration history in the UK and see it remained the same. Maybe they chose that car for that reason, it's hard to say, but it seems very unlikely it was intenional.

[@hmshood319]

They had decided to use a 928 for the film. Now they just had to find one. At the time there were only two registered in the UK. The H982 FLK one and another. The other one being in considerably worse nick, so they chose the better one

[@Milkmans_Son]

@@hmshood319 I would think if Clarkson had his mind set on insulting the locals, it wouldn't have been quite so subtle.

[@JamesG89]

It was intentional no doubt in my mind

[@hmshood319]

@@JamesG89 Any proof? Cos there is overwhelming evidence against your opinion

[@JamesG89]

@@hmshood319 too much of a coincidence

[@knutruben1]

In the Argentina epicode, the licence plate on Jeremy's porche was the original one from the early 90s, but had a bad combination of numbers and letters that COULD be interpreted as having something to do with the Falkland wars. A quote from Richard Porter that worked on the show said "The number plate of Jeremy’s Porsche 928 caused a storm of controversy we couldn’t have seen coming and inspired some extraordinary conspiracy theories. One said that we’d been planning to visit Argentina and had searched the country to find a car with a plate that could rile the locals. Yet the Porsche had been registered with that sequence of letters and numbers since it was new in 1991. To have found it we’d have needed to hack the DVLA computer system illegally and then hope that the car still existed, that it wasn’t a tractor or a lorry or something we didn’t want, and that it was for sale." -snip

[@A_Man_Named_Mark]

When I worked for DCX Viper Racing Division (Dodge) as an engineer back in the 00's, we sent John a Viper to build for us ( again, we're Dodge... the manufacturer). Took him twice as long as it should have to send us the finished car back, and the first time Tommy (Archer) took the car around our test track... it blew up. Dude gets by on his name alone.

[@juggnuttz]

look into hte Raptors by him, i forget exact numbers but it was like 7 of the 12 they built went up in flames. i think was from the pressurized fuel lines they used, but not positive, its been years since i was deep in this stuff.

[@eddy91604]

There's also lots of people on various car forums saying he's pretty much a crook.

[@weaksignal8009]

Hennessey is A CRIMINAL

[@robostyle9773]

@@weaksignal8009 yup glad someone brought this up. So many stories

[@Grind_Fishing]

@@eddy91604 glad somebody finally said it, dude is a huge CROOK!

[@georgeherbert4721]

Joe watching Top Gear clips gives me the same feeling I’d get as a kid when I’d invite multiple friend groups to my birthday party

[@mthunziblose6269]

Great take

[@mojopin2000]

BBC Top Gear is without a doubt the greatest television show I’ve ever watched. I love Clarkson so much that I watched him try and be a farmer during the lockdown.

[@jasonjones7461]

I remember that "lorry" episode. They all customized tractor trailer semi trucks and part of one test had Clarkson slam into brick wall. It was real and quite bad. Even some on board cameras were damaged and broken from the impact. I think it cracked a rib or worse on him idr exactly. Just one of many insane things they didn't fake. Hammond almost died more than once, even being in a coma when wrecked that one car

[@sabersz]

Yeah, a crash at above 200mph is insane but to crash at 288 is unreal. And to survive!!

[@elliottdodson4912]

Clarkson broke his shoulder from it. Quite funny really

[@gtojr7016]

Clarkson is a pay grade well above Rogan so don't hold your breathe.

[@TexasDragRacingVideo]

Story on Hennessy is he was a big Viper builder back in the day. He was taking parts of one car and installing them on other cars and basically ripping people off. I remember it all blew up on the old LS1Tech forum. He came on to defend himself and it went downhill from there 😂

[@BeanieNinjay0]

Strange how many people gloss over this. He was going it to Vette and GTR owners, too just to name a few.

[@TexasDragRacingVideo]

@@BeanieNinjay0 yeah I remember one Viper owner posted about parts being sold off his car. When he found the car it was in pieces with even the hood missing. Seriously don’t know how people still give this guy any kind of attention.

[@Mauldify]

Hes def a dude who just wants to make money, All they do at hennessey is bolt a bunch of go fast parts on factory cars and package it nicely with an insane price tag, similar to Brabus, mansory etc... no actual development being done but perfect for people with way too much money, which is their main customer base (dubai etc.. )

[@jeeves744]

He is a scumbag and this part of his past can never be buried. No matter how much he tries.

[@djremotion2]

I remember reading about this vividly, and I live in Finland. :D

[@davidbicket7201]

Normally I do not like American cars but the Velociraptor and the Exorcist are truly amazing cars. Well done John, especially as the presenters can be very harsh on vehicles. Long live The Grand Tour and Hennessy cars

[@Hagop64]

In Argentina they didn't write on any of their cars, but one of the cars they brought to use for the episode was a Porsche that had a license plate "H982 FLK" which some Argentinians thought was an intentional reference to the 1982 Faulklands War. Clarkson actually had that number plate registered to his Porsche since the early 90s so this wasn't done just for the episode and didn't even know people would read the plate as any kind of reference.

[@defeqel6537]

Just to be clear, the car had the plate registered since the 90s, but Clarkson bought it specifically for the trip. Supposedly it was one of only 2 available in the UK.

[@ThommyOcho]

The argentina story - just half truths and miss information……typical podcast story of “you know what I heard/know?” Many just spewing anecdotal trivia

[@haztec.]

@@ThommyOcho This entire podcast is built on misinformation. Only bill burr is the one with enough integrity to say "Neither you nor I no anything about that. Let's not talk about it".

[@0tispunkm3y3r]

This also ignores how the cars are bought. A lot of people seem to think CHM peruse the classifieds and chose the cars. They don't. They say to production what they want and some intern goes off to buy it. They don't often even see what's been purchased until they're on location.

[@ShaggyRogers1]

It wasn't even Clarkson's Porsche. The production buys their cars remotely, and at most the hosts request certain type(s) of car which the production then builds a list to choose off of. Jeremy wanted a specific old rare Porsche, and the one they found for sale just happened to have that plate since it was first sold. Production staff even went back to the ad, and the license plate was blocked out.

[@fortusvictus8297]

The 'side shows' of the main 3 Top Gear guys are worth the watch. Hammond has several 'dirty jobs' type series and a weird nature one. May has a great foodie/travel show with a lot of Japanese weirdness, and Clarkston has a rural lifestyle/farming show.

[@CaptainBuzzBee]

James May, Our Man in Japan was well done. He was going to do more then the "pandemic" happened.

[@TreeFrogOnATree]

May also has some series available on the Naked Science channel

[@jonnyc429]

​@@CaptainBuzzBeeyep and everyone got vaccines that could connect to bluetooth and the whole thing was caused by 5G. Seems weird people still use 5G phones

[@Revheadrev]

Clarkson, Hammond and May on JRE would be such a brilliant few hours

[@fl04]

It's not a UK-company-owned-by-the-government in combination with a UK court situation, but rather because knowing that the nature of the show and the way these "tests"/"reviews" are conducted are not necessarily informational/educational but purely for entertainment purposes. Because of this IT IS in fact reasonable to assume that no viewer would compare the tesla's performance as indicated per the "review" to its real life performance - it makes total sense

[@madmags969]

BBC is publicly funded but not owned by the government. Although any standing government would like that to be the case

[@Helen-cw1qs]

Well said!!! In the same way I wouldn’t buy a Ford Fiesta because it makes an excellent landing craft for the Marines. That’s another one of their car tests. This whole interview doesn’t ‘get’ Britain or British humour.

[@jakechapman254]

It wasn’t a car show it was just entertainment 😂

[@mojukin3018]

Good entertainment I thought

[@RedPhil87]

It was both..

[@thearbitar3751]

Not when filming in the US though aha

[@vipe650r]

@@thearbitar3751 ;-)

[@loch1352]

Top Gear is by far my favourite show of all time, I grew up on it and some of my best memories are associated with it.

[@captainrisky6561]

When Top Gear tested a car they would drive it for a day or two before shooting. The Tesla broke down, they had the Tesla guys look over it & they fixed it. Then it came time to make the "review" & they worked the breakdown into the story. It didn't actually break down while filming but it did the day before.

[@defeqel6537]

And Teslas at the time did have issues (as evidenced by the actual break down) and low range at the time, and the issue of few charging stations was real.

[@DJvileman]

@@defeqel6537 issue of few charging stations is a major problem in most of the world still. There were half a day queues in finnish lapland during winter holiday season to charge teslas. Let's take a 1000-mile family trip to middle of nowhere in a meme car. Works near a city with no long journeys when you have your own charging plug.

[@idiotsinc]

JRE never let the facts get in the way of a good story telling 😂

[@TheJonesdude]

teslas are still shit cars. They're designed for wankers to claim they're saving the environment as a flex rather than morality

[@Gambit771]

​@@idiotsincExcept there was no good storytelling.

[@RedRoverTW]

I watched every Top Gear since the mid-80s until the move to Amazon. It was one of the best because nothing was out of bounds and they had real chemistry. JRE should definitely interview Clarkson.

[@stevehope4572]

He should interview all three

[@baconatoromg6062]

The Amazon show is still really good. Even better in some ways actually

[@sarcastic.not.unkind]

To clear this up, though. They actually didn't write shit on their cars to provoke the Argentinian locals, they only did that way back in Alabama. Ben Collins (the Stig from Top Gear's prime) did an interview with Andy Wilman where they go into this pretty well and one of the screenwriters talked about it in his book. They all had V8 cars and Clarkson wanted a very specific model of Porsche 928 for the shoot. As fate would have it, the car he ended up with wore the genuine UK license plate H982 FKL. This was not something they could've done by design and they ended up running with it, as the crew was already in South America. Would they have asked the Argentinian authorities if it was ok for them to drive through Argentina with the plates covered/removed in hindsight? Yeah, probably

[@marko7843]

Everyone in the show has not only stated that the plate was the original plate on the car that they bought in England, and no, they never even construed the numbers the way the natives did until after the crap started...

[@Rmcaw]

Mr Hennessy got a couple of things wrong, the license plate was H982FKL which was seen as a subtle dig at the Falklands War. The records show that the plate was original to the car from new. I think it’s incredibly far fetched to say that they saw this car registration and decided to plan a whole trip to Argentina based on an obscure reference, there is even more detail to be accounted for and many show workers have all come out and said it was a total coincidence. I am inclined to believe it for many reasons, the main reason being that Top Gear was not subtle enough for that. As they showed, their idea of jokes was crashing into a brick wall, not some tiny tiny detail on a license plate that won’t get much screen time. In regards to the Tesla thing, it’s also worth mentioning that another reason why they trolled Tesla is for years Tesla wouldn’t let them have a car and messed them about, saying it didn’t need TV coverage etc, so it was there way of roasting them as well as trying to make comedy of electric cars. Also, the BBC is completely Independent of the British government, no interference from the government or courts in that matter, in fact the government would have liked the BBC to loose! 😆

[@chrissyboi88b]

Perfectly put, you said everything I wanted to say. For someone who worked on the show hid knowledge of the show is pretty bad, but with that being said most British people used yo watch top gear religiously every Sunday, and we would see news about them, this guy wouldn't really get news and I can guarantee probably hasn't watch a tone of their shows like us.

[@Nswix]

They also had a spare set that said "BE11 END". Probably also a random coincidence.

[@Rmcaw]

@@Nswix a small amount of reading around the subject and listening to interviews by several sources will know that once it became apparent that the number plates had caused distress. A crew member who was scheduled to join the team later, was sent with some joke plates to replace the original.

[@Nswix]

@@Rmcaw then why didn't they choose to replace them with the new set?

[@rych7852]

I guarantee they saw the car, bought the car and thought they'd just use it at some point in the future. And one day they just thought "fk it, lets go to Argentina with it and make a road trip" It massively blew up on them far worse than they thought it would though.

[@youngorangee]

someone said this dude looks like he could be shane gillis’s dad 🤣

[@apostolostvable]

That Patagonia special was one of the most beautifully shot episodes of TV ever actually. And entertaining as hell. There's a reason Top Gear was the most watched show on Earth with those three.

[@ter3360]

I was lucky enough to get on one of the last season's of Top Gear and they are just as funny off camera. Be great to get them on the podcast. Clarkson would get along great with Joe..

[@wow3950]

Having any of the trio come onto the show would be amazing. Somebody make it happen!

[@jdgoesham5381]

OMG I loved that show. I just watched the last Grand Tour ep last week...Bummer it's over. I was the only American growing up out of all my friends or family who watched the show.

[@GNXperimental]

Hennessey's performance shop got in trouble back in the early 2000's. I'm surprised it survived and boomed after that.

[@Ozifio]

for what?

[@GNXperimental]

@dontstealmypizza Back then when they were only working on Gen II Vipers. They got in trouble for taking parts off of customers' cars to finish others. People would take finished cars for service or upgrades. And they would take parts off to them to finish new cars they were pumping out.

[@vedantjagtap3209]

​@@GNXperimental so like a ponzi

[@saleenX02]

Early 2000’s? It continued well after then!

[@shadowprince4482]

The show was 99% scripted and they weren't shy about the fact. When they got some award for some big awards show for "best unscripted television show" Jeremy said "I deeply appreciate the award for best unscripted tv show but I can't be there because we are too busy writing the script for the next season." They also did a follow-up episode on Tesla where they made fun of the whole lawsuit and obviously wasn't meant to be taken seriously.

[@flush_entity]

its scripted but not 99% If you watched the behind the scene of Grand Tour, there are always over 60 hours of unscripted scenes (that the producer, Andy, has to watch.) then they add some unscripted into the final cut.

[@azerty1933]

@@flush_entity the script is pretty much the skeleton, what makes it good is their abilities to make everything organic so you never know if something is scripted or just happening on the moment

[@poppinc8145]

@@flush_entity That's a different show with a different budget by a different company.

[@alanrobinson7866]

@@poppinc8145 But the same script editor.

[@goodrobot1]

Clarkson, Hammond and May will forever be my favorite thing about tv. Ive watched everything theyve donr since i was a child. Love the trio.

[@yolkiandeji7649]

He got the entire thing with Argentina wrong. The license plate was an anagram that Argentines claimed said “1982 Falkland.” And the crew had to drive out of Argentina into Chile.

[@Jake4]

H982 FKL 🤣🇬🇧

[@steviemac2681]

Claimed? No doubt it was on purpose. That kind of thing was part of the schtick.

[@Louzahsol]

@@steviemac2681 not how british license plates work

[@itsjoel]

He got most of his stories wrong

[@another_day4783]

@@steviemac2681 not sure they was only two of those cars in the UK it probably wasn't done on purpose unlike the thing they did in the USA

[@bradywatson6586]

the thought if having clarson may and hommond all on. joe would never get a word in but it would be hilarious. i miss those three and their years are fading them, we need more of them now or we will never get more of them.

[@stellviahohenheim]

Joe knows he'll get shit on if he meets anyone of them

[@ozzy7763]

Top Gear was one of my all time favorite shows. Just not the same without the original guys !

[@ryanoshaughnessy9652]

All 3 should be on the podcast asap... Would be hilarious with their stories and arguments 🤣🤣

[@gamingenthusiast1018]

just to provide some context for the part where John talks about the danger they were in in Argentina. The "writing on the car" that John refers to was actually the registration plate of the Porsche 928 that Jeremy was driving, which read "H982 FKL" the first part being interpreted as the year of the Falklands war between the United Kingdom and the Falkland Islands, 1982, and the last part being interpreted as an abbreviation of Falkland "FKL". this together sparked the outrage amongst a group of locals that noticed it while the presenters where in convoy which then snowballed into what appeared to be a larger more coordinated group trying to attack the top gear team by throwing rocks and other debris at the crew vehicles. They were eventually escorted to safety in a convoy with local police. James may years later goes on to say in an interview on a KZbin channel called Drivetribe that the registration plate was completely coincidental and that at the time of choosing a Porsche 928 to be used in filming there were only 2 registered in the uk and one of them was in a worse condition than the other. He goes on to say that they chose the Porsche 928 that was in a better condition and it just so happened to have the registration "H982 FKL" and that they didn't realise it would cause a problem until it was too late. It's possible someone mentioned it and raised an issue with it but since they went ahead with filming, any concerns that may have been raised were probably dismissed as unlikely anything to be worried about. (any additional information that people have to add, please feel free to share)

[@seedy80]

There's not much more to add. Andy said the same thing as did someone else on the crew in other interviews I've seen.

[@Halbared]

Thanks for the clarity.

[@brendandoherty9930]

You have to be incredibly gullible to believe it was a coincidence 🤦🏻‍♂️🙄

[@justsomeredspy]

@@brendandoherty9930 The car, a Porsche 928, was chosen by Clarkson for personal reasons, there were only 2 them available in the UK at the time, and the registration was original. Please stop ignoring basic facts because you want to feel special.

[@gamingenthusiast1018]

@@brendandoherty9930you obviously didn’t read my comment correctly.

[@Bancofty97]

Top Gear makes me proud to be British! Some of the best TV moments of all time come from that great show, When the original hosts left that's when the show truly ended.

[@FrankBullitt390]

Back in the day top gear was the most popular TV show on earth. Between the views and downloads it was getting over 350 million views per episode.

[@Fitness195]

This guy is such a smooth and articulate talker. You always heard so many stories about how he ripped off so many customers etc etc…

[@scratchpenny]

That's probably why he's still in business. The stories appear to be true.

[@007Spadge]

Met Clarkson twice at the Hawkstone brewery in the Cotswolds last year, he threw a little party for his beer in June, and a larger one in September. I was suprised, he was actually flattered I came all the way from Germany for the event. Made fun of each others accents, talked about cars and music. Second time around he had a v6 Ferrari hybrid, I was parked next to him in a car French plates and left hand drive I left there the night before, so naturally he was curious. The Ferrari had some light blue accents on it, which looked horrible, so we're both a little hung over making fun of that. People might dislike him for his views, but one on one he's very forthcoming actually.

[@jonlamontagne]

Can we talk about all the lawsuits this guy has for not building the cars keeping people's cars forever. Taking advantage of people in other countries and holding their cars for years at a time. I mean it's cleared bankruptcy. So many lawsuits against him

[@dirkx2350]

@@TGOOD4.0 him being a complete scumbag had the statue of limitations applied. Got it.

[@cody479]

im not gonna lie he looks the type

[@dirkx2350]

@@cody479 a 2 min google search will fully explain why he is a scumbag and the numerous people he ripped off for 10’s of 1000’s of dollars.

[@Madagon367]

Well he thinks physically assaulting a co-worker way below you in the food chain is hilarious. So he's a real peach obviously.

[@KingDomsKingdom85]

I don't trust this guy

[@thomasoreilly6358]

It would be great to have joe as a guest on both top gear and grand tour,

[@BradMackComedy]

Be real, nobody watches top gear without Clarkson, Hammond, and May

[@timothydraper3687]

The Argentina thing was a number plate "H982 FKL" - 1982 and Falklands. The presenters were rushed out under cover and flew home. The crew had to abandon the cars and drove at speed to the border with Chile and flew home from there. There were only 2 Porsche 928 available to buy at the time in the UK, and the plate came with the car. It wasn't chosen because of the plate.

[@1labrinth]

When I first discovered top gear a few years ago I binge watched about 10 seasons. It made my inner monologue have a english accent for a few weeks.

[@TheJoshestWhite]

"speed & power!" Pops up every now and then 😅

[@sastrinidis]

How cool would it to see Clarkson, Hammond, and May on JRE. Not just to learn behind the scenes from Top Gear, but their move to The Grand Tour, and their current projects. I watch all 3 of their current shows like Clarkson's Farm, DriveTribe, the new pub, etc...

[@allennewborn936]

Top Gear and The Grand Tour are still the greatest TV shows ever produced.

[@beefchillingham6790]

JRE plus the Top Gear boys would be too good. At least Clarkson

[@BLOXKAFELLARECORDS]

I'm so glad your making your dreams come true... oops. That's me.

[@steviemac2681]

I love Clarkson's Farm. My favourite thing he's ever done.

[@rickyharvey7143]

The top gear crew on JRE would be the best episode ever!!!!!!!!

[@mesk412]

I wish i could un-see top gear, and the grand tour......... So i could watch it all over again fresh! Absolutely loved both series. Clarkson's farm is great. Really enjoyed James Mays travel series for Amazon as well. Also enjoying the drive trying stuff on KZbin. These guys just know how to entertain.

[@cerebralm]

I've watched it all the way through like 3 times lol. Just keeps getting better 👍

[@lobsterwhisperer7932]

grand tour sucks, top gear was great.

[@andrewschafer8986]

Hands down the best two car shows ever. I’m not mad they did Tesla dirty. They did many companies dirty. Us real car guys will always want to watch the three.

[@martynwarren3192]

It’s only when I watch this interview that I realise that not many countries get our savage British sense of humour. Watch it for what it is….. comedy. 🇬🇧

[@spikeybaby1735]

My thoughts exactly😎

[@joesmith6972]

Is that even John Hennessy's shirt or did he find it in a customer's car?

[@TrackingPonies]

😂 He’s such a hack. Crook for life.

[@manhatton407]

Underrated comment

[@aesrys]

If you ever watched Top Gear consistently, then the outcome of the lawsuit really isn't that surprising. Outside of the actual track testing segments, it's very easy to believe that the challenges were set up for story and comedy far more than for realism.

[@Man-Made-of-wood]

I feel like Joe really struggles with British humour also. He just does not seem to understand dry humour

[@jealouseggs5619]

still a dick move to do that to a tiny company (at the time)

[@aesrys]

@@jealouseggs5619 No argument from me on that

[@defeqel6537]

@@jealouseggs5619 Nah, the car really did have problems during review period, and EVs at the time were a pain. Also Tesla's been received billions in funding for decades before actually starting to make headway.

[@noobgun12]

​@@jealouseggs5619 who gives a shit

[@cuebj]

On Tesla and other Top Gear 'reviews'. It was realised early on that Top Gear had no effect on sales of any cars it tested at all, except, possibly, the Toyata Hilux in a positive way. Sales were often complete opposite of TG reviews

[@jamesd5241]

Its amazing how a "comedian" like Joe never really understands really comedy like top gear was

[@Hardcastle83]

Exactly. All these people saying they should be on the show, Joe would be even more confused.

[@thearbitar3751]

I think its an American thing. So many Americans get offended at comedy

[@anonymoose7718]

The argentina thing was the license plate on Jeremy's porsche. Which happened to be the original license plate on the car from the 90s. And was one of two cars of it's type in Britain at the time, and happened to be in much better conditionthan the other. I believe the license plate was FLK982, which is a random set of letters and numbers. The Argentinians assumed it was mockery about the faulklands war.

[@realMaverickBuckley]

Correctumundo. It was the reg plate assigned to it by the DVLA (DNV) in 1982 or whatever. One of those crazy coincidences.

[@BennyH11]

Doesn't mean that the trip wasn't planned around that number plate though.

[@totallybored5526]

@@BennyH11what? Why would they do that? There is a lot of planning and logistics to take care of and they aren’t going to be paying that much attention to a license plate. And why would they see a car with a random license plate and spend hundreds of thousands of pounds, and spend all the time and energy of planning a road trip, and getting all the equipment and people to Argentina?

[@randomlyfactual1943]

No comedian on earth could come close to how funny these three dudes had been

[@vineetmahajan2231]

I want all three all together on JRE

[@kaylep6135]

To say "Top Gear did Tesla dirty" is doing Top Gear dirty. To my understanding it didn't "break down", they said it ran out of charge. If it wasn't actually flat as you say then the point was that EVs consistently are advertised with disingenuous range - which they do. Because it's based on driving exceedingly conservatively, on flat ground, minimum weight etc. When driving "spirited", which you would expect from a roadster, the range is much lower than they claim. So who's doing who dirty? Fair point to be made I think.

[@silverninja5218]

I love old Top Gear and current The Grand Tour, they are so funny. Even the controversial stuff they did is funny.

[@aandersson650]

Imagine having those three on the show. Would be amazing

[@rogerwilco1777]

Didn't Clarkson roll that Robin like a dozen times.. him flipping it in front of that 'news crew', getting right side up and flipping it immediately again was one of the funniest things I remember about Top Gear

[@Josh9723]

Hey man! I’ve got a podcast and a new episode just went live, I would love some feedback, don’t have to listen to all of it just skim through. Don’t even subscribe just want pure feedback!

[@Red_Salmond]

Top gear in its prime was gold, loved the show

[@iHaveTheDocuments]

Real topgear was a masterpiece