This episode - "money ,money, money" from season 4 was on last night (Monday 20th April 2020) on itv4 - I had watched this very video about a week before hand and so instantly recognized this chase. The sweeney and the professionals have been keeping me entertained during lockdown and reminds me of watching them with my dad when I was younger.
The end music from The Sweeney always gives me a cold feeling across my neck. A memory of my Dad coming back from work/pub and sending a blast of air through the house.
This car chase couldn't happen today in London. The Renault would get stuck in traffic at the first junction or a temporary traffic lights in the over running roadworks or behind a bus or wreck the car on potholes or speed bumps.
I love a good car chase… Think of The French Connection with Gene Hackman chasing down a hit man on a train under an elevated underpass and barely missing a mother and child, or Steve McQueen tearing up the streets of San Francisco in his Mustang GT…. And then you’ve got this masterpiece… a Ford Granada labouring through what appears to be the local dogging hotspot after a pensioner in a hairdryer.
Look at that right rear wheel on the Renault, how graciously it lifts, like a cat on a parade, unlike the Ford which is penduling like a dogs bottom after a squeaky ball.
0:42 ... Attention - your hood isn´t locked ! At 0:58 its locked ... In the early 2000s, a friend of mine had a ´70 Opel Diplomat B 5.4 and a ´75 Granada 2.8 i (it was later modified with injection), it made a lot of fun to drive these cars ! I like the Granada Mk I, the V6 has a great sound. Best wishes from south Germany
No, the Rekord & Commodore - series were always independent cars of the middle class, a number lower than the Diplomat and his sister model, the Admiral; which were upper class. As far as i know the Diplomat & Admiral were not sold in the UK, not even as Vauxhall. Thats right, they were reliable and stylish. Since the mid 60s to the 70s in Germany they had a sticker on the rear window "Opel - der Zuverlässige" (Opel - the reliable one)
@@stefankassbohrer2765 thanks for that Stefan. At the time I recall models available, Kadette, Manta, Ascona, Rekord and Commodore. I had a Senator 3.0 around the 80s.
Your welcome. I didn´t know that, were these models RHD ? I thought only Vauxhall´s were available in the UK. Senator A and Monza are great cars, especially with the big engine. I own a ´78 Senator A CD with green interior, a nice, thirsty car ;-) The old Ford And Opel were amazing, a friend had 2 Capris, Mk 3 and Mk 1, both 2.3 litres.
@@stefankassbohrer2765 yes, all available RHD. I recall the "Berlinetta" being top specification on some models, certainly the Manta A which was a beautiful, graceful car. My Senator was an A series in metallic red with red velour upholstery. 3.0 injected. The Vauxhall equivalent available in UK at that time was the Royale but had a 2.8 carburetor engine.
My dad had a Renault 16. The bench seat in the front was very innovative at the time. There were sometimes six of us in the car. And French cars give such a smooth ride.
As an American, I remember when Top Gear would reference these shows, and when they did their own versions of car chases and title sequences. The 70's vibe to those shows, was very amusing to see. We of course we had our own on this side of the pond from the same era, The Streets of San Francisco, Starsky and Hutch etc. However I grew up with the 80's version's, like Knight Rider, Dukes of Hazzard, Miami Vice, The A Team etc. However CHiPs was a 70's holdover into the 80's that certainly was from that era that The Sweeny's occupied. Here is a title sequence from Top Gear playing homage to these British detective series. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-qLp4FhDAfQk.html
Nothing up with the handling of the old Granadas if you can drive. Still got my 74 3.0 Ghia 59k from new. Can still show up a few modern cars. They do have power steering by the way. Series one & Two used the consul GT of which they had two of. Series three they used a silver Granada 3.0S & also in the first Sweeney film. Series four they used this Granada 3.0Ghia and a Silver Mk2 Granada 2.8is which were also both used in the Sweeney 2 film. Plus various other Granadas for background shots during all series. Regan drove a MK1 Granada 3.0GXL in the pilot episode “Regan”.
It was a Granada 2.5 XL automatic Regan drove in the pilot, so I believe :) loved the Granadas, I have a mk4 Zodiac with the same 3 litre essex V6, pulls like a train (although tops out at 100mph mainly because the aerodynamics are terrible)
Dud e they were built to handle french cobblestones and shitty backroads. Why woukd they take it down when its doing exactly what it was built to do? Ride like a magic carpet oh shit roads and still go round corners with hussle. It just LOOKS bad. They love some lean angle.
@@jamesfrench7299 These cars rusted everywhere, car manufacturers hadn't heard of zinc phosphate paint in the 1970s and 1980. The Fords got the nickname of 'Dagenham Dustbins' because they used to rust to pieces within 5 years, that's why there are so few of them left.
@@trainman86trainstramsandmore really i owned a renault 16,you obviously missed out,totally reliable way ahead of any competition of the time in fact the original hatchback {ok maybe renault 4 was first} rust was the problem with the renault 16
I had a 1972 K Reg Mk 3 Cortina 1600L in Monza Blue (a mid blue colour), with dark blue vinyl seats (but no vinyl roof) from October 1975 to June 1980, when I traded it for a green MK 4 1600L. In the hot summer of 1976, I had to buy a set of seat covers, as otherwise it was to hot to sit in the car without getting second degree burns.
La Renault 16 : j en ai conduit plusieurs lors de mon service militaire en 1983. Merveilleuse voiture, souple, rapide, spacieuse, confortable, parfaite tenue de route. Seul défaut : toutes les Renault 16 avaient un levier de vitesses au volant. L avantage c est que cela dégageait les sièges avant que l on pouvait utiliser comme une banquette. Bien pratique lorsqu l on emmenait ses petites amies 😂
@@paulforster2684 According to the DVLA, RHJ 997R is no longer a registered number plate, they might have swopped the Reg No for a personalised one though
The thing is that even the Granadas were, at the time, big cars, in comparison to others then, and comparatively heavier, they would still be lighter than many car models on the road nowadays. The older ones had the old V4 and V6 Essex engines, not exactly renowned for fuel efficiency, and neither were the old OHV Kent and newer OHC Pinto engines used in the Cortinas of the time. I seem to remember my K Reg Mark 3 1600L Cortina only weighed in at around 1 Tonne, that's less than any modern Ford Fiesta, believe it or not. The Mark 3 Cortina's fuel efficiency was only around 26 - 27 mpg around town. That's changed a lot because, over the last 50 years, engines and their operating systems are far more fuel efficient. I seem to remember the Cortinas and Granadas had big fuel tanks, my MK 3 1600L Cortina had a 14 gallon tank, giving me a range of around 300 - 350 miles between fill ups. At the time of this filming of the Sweeney (1977/78), petrol had reached the dizzy heights of around 80p a gallon.
Apparently this car is still owned (by its original owner since 1988) and maintained but it isn’t a Granada. It’s a Ford Consul GT3000. Renault 16. 0-60 eventually 😂
Is the sweeney Granada still around I mean is it in a museum or was it worn out funny kojaks car was a similar colour who copied who I say kojak did regan would of loved that great time’s but when you watch on itv 4 it’s edited to bits if you compare the box set of the sweeney because it’s un for give the pun PC
I had the identical Granada MK1 3.0 Ghia in the early '80s. Great car. The 'fit-and-finish' was far better than this one at around 43 seconds...Or maybe they just forgot to close the bonnet properly...!
Darren Wison many of the tv cars had fictional plates or were not that precisely dated. For example there were a couple of occasions when a Rover 800 appeared with C prefix (1985/1986) when the car was launched on a D plate.
Bwahahahaha. Stunt driver in the Renault slows down on dirt,... 16TS owners be like "WTF Is Wrong With You!" 80mph on dirt in a 16,.... Grenade-a would never catch it off road.
@@andreafusco9416 ...la favolosa Ford Granada, ma anche la dolcissima e bellissima R 16.. due capolavori che desidererei tanto rivedere per le strade, visto che sono state tolte di mezzo prematuramente!❤️
Same here. The R16 was built until 1980 but was getting rarer on the roads from the early seventies because the earlier ones died in much larger numbers than Renault could sell new ones. It was a huge discrepancy between a forward thinking design and shoddy manufacturing.
My favorite part is the Granada hood being held down by the safety catch. They must have had to put something back in place mid-scene to help it keep going. LOL. A few frames later, it's fully latched. Ah, @ Ford (in the 70's) quality was job 8.
