Coltrane's Planes & Automobiles: The V8 Engine 

R.I.P. Robbie...he passed away yesterday....What a fabulous career he had.

RIP Robbie. That moment "Aye, that'll be fine now" as he walks away from that 4 pot engine makes me howl with laughter every time. Sadly missed... the world is a duller place without the big fella in it. But what a life he lived.

When I first heard of Robbie Coltrane passing, I thought of this TV series and the book from the series. I must dig it out and put a little note about his passing. He would pop up in all manner of shows or films and it was always a pleasure to see him. Most people would know him from Harry Potter, but for me it was Black Adder and this series. RIP Robbie! Mark from Melbourne Australia

R.I.P. big man. Love how as a Scot he illustrates the difference in number of engine cylinders with cans of beer :)

Personally I think Cracker is one of the best drama series ever to air on British television, Robbie was a genius of an actor. Such a loss. R.I.P

I watched this episode over and over when i was younger. i got to own a V8. A TVR no less. i thought of Robbie often while driving it. The Eldorado suited his hefty stature. Rip big man.

I saw this when it came out. Great show. Imagine getting to work on a Hemi with Don Garlits. Rest easy Robbie, my daily is a 6.2 litre LS3 and my ute is a 7.4 (454) Australia has white trash too.

The V8 powered air raid siren has got to be one of my favourite bits of TV with Robbie, loved this series. RIP mate. ❤

The 1970 ford galaxy he has here was originally brought from Arizona in 1994 by a mate of mine ,myself and three other mates . My mate sold it to a guy in Middlesbrough who worked in a body shop who really went to town on the body work which was originally white with a vinyl roof that was long gone along with the paintwork due to the Arizona desserts sun .It came from a little old lady who had it parked up for over two years .This car took us from Arizona to Baltimore with a few hiccups but good god what an adventure that was ,This is the true story of how this beautiful car came to Britain.

I had a Rover P6 with the Buick 3500 Ltr V8 engine. Ran like a dream, sounded great. Miss it.

Wonderful stuff.that air raid siren was the best!!.you could tell robbie really enjoyed making those shows R.I.P. robbie another good un gone

Rest in peace Robbie ❤

Awesome, i remember when i was kid and this was on the tv, i got a v8 a few years later!

Similar presenting style to Jeremy Clarkson, but with genuine humour, knowledge and talent. How refreshing.

R.I.P. Robbie. You will be missed.

The greatest episode of one of the greatest series of all time. Thanks Robbie Coltrane for doing it so well! Vale.

We''ll always have your humour Robbie, thanks for a great series.

Tento dokument je absolutne perfektny v kazdom smere a Robbie tomu dal ten spravny smrnc a stavu!!! Je to absolutna spicka a uz som videl toto video niekolko-stokrat a este nemam dost... Clovek, ktory sa trochu vyzna do motorov a vie o com to cele je, tak mi da urcite za pravdu a nyvyse Robbie uvadzal aj dalsie diely tohto dokumentu o inych typoch motorov a kazdy bol super...!!! Uzasne a nadherne zaroven...!!! Dakujem ti Robbie a je mi velmi luto, ze si tak nahle odisiel, ale dufam, ze ti je tam dobre a si spokojny s tym, co si nam tu zanechal. Mal by si to pozret kazdy motorista!

Oh Robbie. So sad you're gone. From another engineer. Loved your humour, acting, intellect and love of everything that went up and down, round and round with a bang and whirring noise. RIP my fellow petrol head.

He was a great character. I once owned a 59 Buick(I'm a UK resident). 401cu i Wildcat engine. Awesome car. I did a 60 mile trip to a show with a broken piston(unknown at the time). Easy fix,and cheap!

The reason for the balance and the sound of most of V8s is because they mostly use a 90 degree cross plane crankshaft, which gives them, that famous rumble, and balance mentioned in the video. Most 4 cylinders use a 180 degree flat plane crankshaft, which gives them that weeenn weeenn sound we all know, some V8s , like Ferrari V8 road cars, F1 cars, Indycars, and many other racing cars, also use flat plane crankshaft, and they have a sound, very similar to a 4 cylinder engine, and they also have more vibrations

Remember this series and watching it when I was younger, his passion for engines shone through, especially liked the one with the triple expansion steam engine in the lake district, woke up this morning thinking about the v8 one as I now own an old Ford truck with a y block and was out and about in it last night down here in Cornwall. Must be 20 yrs since I'd seen it and it's still brilliant to watch

How the hell have I missed all this untill now from such a man ????????????????? R.I.P. Mr Coltrane As all you did this is one fantastic series I have honestly learnt so so much Thankyou to you and your family !!!!!!!!

I have the VHS of this worn smooth from so many viewings and the book. Unlike Clarkson Coltrane is both genuinely funny and knows his stuff: brilliant.

great vid.. a brit that gave a good review and with proper history with out the usual "but" hats off..good show.

Rest in Peace, Mr C.

Again, GREAT episode! Robbie, 2 stroke engines DO work! I've put 2000 miles on my RD-4-00S I've had a few.

Robbie makes a Cadillac Eldorado look small. Quite a feat.

He was a real class act, he's very sadly missed... RIP BIG MAN... ❤️❤️❤️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

6:14 The camera nearly knocks his coffee over.

R.I.P Robbie my HERO 💔

RIP Robbie. You were a genius 😊

pump up the volume at 1.02, no matter if you're a ford man, chev man or Mopar man, that sound means the same to everyone, Smiles all round!

Quite a character for sure. A couple of extra facts, the real breakthrough that made the Ford Flat Head V8 possible was in the foundry. Up until that time Vee engines were made with a separate crankcase and cylinder bloke construction because casting them together caused too many casting faults that led to failures. Casting them together was the key to making them cheap enough to sell in a lower-cost car. The engineers at Ford set up a special group to crack the problem which they finally did. Being a side-valve engine made the casting even more complex. Also, Henry Ford was not keen on the V8 concept it was his son that pushed the project.

What a man What a Engine

He hops into that massive Eldorado and spins the FRONT WHEELS! Because despite being a symbol of the excesses of the past, the Eldorado also had one eye to the future by being front wheel drive.

best show in history

it is now available on dvd on amazon uk

The British version of Jay Leno. 🙂🙂🙂

R.I.P. you will be missed

Always fancied a TR7 V8, with the old Rover Buick US short block engine. Great noise. Generally know as a TR8, unofficially. Vroooom.

Great show, but a slight correction is needed. It was Clyde Barrow who wrote the letter to Henry Ford telling him how much he liked Ford's V8 engines. (Clyde stole several.) Bonnie and Clyde's Death Car, a Ford V8 sedan, is on display in the Primm Valley Casino in Nevada behind bulletproof glass!

Shame they cut the bit with the state trooper pulling them over. ...”don’t mention Vietnam...”

OK, who'd a thought. Robbie (Rubeus Hagrid) Coltrane and "Dyno" Don Garlitz. AND, a Hemi engine! Guys, (and, if they're any gals here) does it get ANY better than this? The one that got me, was the reference in part one, where Robbie was waxing poetic about a Steam Engine. Sounded like Rubeus Hagrid drooling over some dinosaur (or dragon) or something. If you don't know, you might want to visit Harry Potter. Robbie, thanks for this whole series, except what you did to the 2 cycle engine! I'll STILL put my RD-400F Daytona Special against ANY new bike. But, you must be able to lift the whole thing off the ground.(Oh, the RD-400F, 1979.) steve

17:58 were is this siren now?

Losing Robbie is a sad thing for the world. So sorry to hear this.

wow garlitz & a 8.2L front wheel drive car!

Rip Robbie

RIP Big Robbie

The ultimate V engine was the World War Two aircraft engine - the Rolls Royce Merlin V-12 engine. Amazing technology for the 1930s, decades ahead. Metallurgy, mechanical etc..

Hi everyone, As many have rightly said, an excellent video,but what is that music that plays when he `s cruising down the the road, in that wonderfully un PC Cadillac? I wonder if little Greta has seen this video?

I wanr that car Robbie is driving in the beginning!!!! :D

Can someone please tell me if this was ever put on DVD?

@dodgejamesuk Its a ford galaxie.

In North America, up to the mid 80's, V8's were so common they were kind of boring, they were just standard.

I thought the first V8 engine was invented by a french guy. It is true that inline 4 cylinders are naturally unbalanced, I think I heard that the five cylinders are actually better. But most people agree that an inline six is supremely smooth and balanced.

V8 have two cylinder on the same crank pin as well as counter weights which limits the responsiveness and ability to rev. The V8 also suffers from less Bore and stroke from 4 and six cylinder engines. The only advantage V8 has is noise promotion and fuel economy at highway speeds for trucks.

Did I hear him correctly, Belgium is the birth place of the V8 engine?

Actually, it was Clyde Barrows (of Bonnie and Clyde, duh) who wrote the fan letter to Henry Ford. He said that he drove Fords exclusively, whenever he could get away with one.

Did he do something in Red Dwarf? Was a clever interesting fella. Deeply missed already.

Classic man

I like the way Robbie says at the end that he would not be seen dead in a Japanese car. What little red car was he driving at the beginning? A Mazda 121 badged as a Ford (doh!)

RIP Robbie :(

i like that Ford

The Nissan came too early. Blue skies Robbie. Sadly I have only now found this series.

13:00 - How can you build one million cars in just one year??? Blimey, Detroit must have been one hell of a place then! 😳

what ford is that at the bigining is it an ltd or somthing

After 2:00 minutes.. Heineken is Dutch! Has nothing to do with Germany and their 6 cillinders. :) Just to let you know, its a awesome video!

Hagrid's shop class

Robbie, ask for a biscuit and you'll get an odd looking scone

3:48 AaaAHHHhHh lol

"propane gas"..... bottle clearly says "Fire extinguisher"

Hey Robbie you must be sitting in a Nissan R.I.P

They sound cool in a hot rod or a race car, but they sound annoying when some dork in a Ram pickup feels he, or she, has to rev up that Hemi tp pass you in rush hour.

America in a engine

Robbie smoking and drinking his way through the show. Presume that ‘68 Ford at the beginning was one of his.

15:57 'Use your brake to stop...' Really? 🤔🙄

To wash dirty oil off your hands... Water? No!!! Margarine!

Surprised they forgot to say it was Big Daddy Don Garlits starting that old Hemi with Robbie.A terrible slight...no respect.

Heineken is Dutch, not german..... lol

Lovely video. I hate V8s. They sound like wet farts to me. Flat fours an inline fours make so much more sense, and sound lean and hungry. R.I.P. Robbie, and a big THANKYOU for all the entertainment we have been privileged to enjoy from you.

A sad loss.

is this for people who dont know anything about cars?

Coltrane needs new clothes. Do you like the boiler suits he wears???

The 1970 ford galaxy he has here was originally brought from Arizona in 1994 by a mate of mine ,myself and three other mates . My mate sold it to a guy in Middlesbrough who worked in a body shop who really went to town on the body work which was originally white with a vinyl roof that was long gone along with the paintwork due to the Arizona desserts sun .It came from a little old lady who had it parked up for over two years .This car took us from Arizona to Baltimore with a few hiccups but good god what an adventure that was ,This is the true story of how this beautiful car came to Britain.