Petrol was very cheap then. My Mum's 1977 Ford Fiesta's petrol tank only needed £3.50 to fill it with 4 Star. So big straight 6 Chryslers, Granada 3.0 litres and Jaguar 3.8s and 4.2s probably didn't strain the budget terribly. So great to see and hear them all at full chat. A real slice of life in a completely different and probably better time captured for eternity.
The Sweeney does make London took quite grim in general, and Regan and Carter also have lives which are a bit depressing, but it was an incredible slice of the era, as you say. The series was made at the height of the oil crisis, so plenty of expensive petrol being consumed, but it still wasn't like today, of course. You are quite right about the noises of all those six cylinder 1960s and 1970s engines!
The MK4 2.3Cortina had a beautiful exhaust note. I was ten when The Sweeney first aired,it was big talk between us school kids and of course playground and weekend cops n robbers games in the alleyways and side streets were I lived. My single speed Raleigh bicycle suddenly became a Ford Granada V6 replete with engine sound effects from my voice,teeth,lips and imagination. God be with the days. Lovely presentation from you. Thank you Tommy.
Thanks very much indeed for watching the video, Tommy! Yes, an iconic series, probably helped by the fact that there were just three channels on the air in this country at the time. I had the privilege of reviewing a Mark II Ford Granada 2.8 Ghia X Estate on my channel last year, and it was brilliant! Lots more other videos like this on the channel covering things like Dempsey and Makepeace, CATS Eyes, The New Avengers and Return of the Saint!
Rewatched them all a couple of years ago on RU-vid and they were fantastic (mostly). Another bit of car trivia I remember is that Hoskins own car was a Humber Sceptre and Carter had a Mini.
Yes, that's right, Haskins has a Humber Sceptre, which I think only appears in one episode, and there are various Minis, one owned by Regan's lady friend in the first episode, and probably one owned by Carter himself too.
My all time favourite cop show, I started watching from about 1975 , My Dad had a none speaking part in the Sweeney 2 film… I still watch the series now at the ripe old age of 63…… I remember a Z cars episode being filmed where I was brought up in Battersea,
Yes, Z Cars in the latter years used to do more filming in London and the South East, I think it was set in the North West somewhere, though... When during the Sweeney 2 film does your father appear?
He walks up to the Triumph Police car when it went through the window, he wore a blue long coat , also measured the area… and at the last bit of the film in the pub he walks past the camera enjoying himself…. Very sad as he had dementia but remembered being in the film just before he passed on back in 2008…
wow! amazing dont know where to begin, i can watch the sweeney, the professionals and minder just for the car content. will you do the professionals, and may be minder?
@@stanleyleopard6799, you are right, I have only seen about four episodes of Minder. I wouldn't be able to do it proper justice, so for the moment, I will not be covering it. Same goes with Midsomer Murders, another request I have had. The Professionals was covered extensively last year in two podcasts recorded at a famous Professionals/Avengers/ITC location near Watford. They are on the Cars on Television playlist...
Nice one Joseph. Have to say an old Ford always looks better with an HK number plate. Adds to the authenticity :) And I see the opening credits mention The Baron's sidekick Sue Lloyd (as well as Hywel 'Shelley' Bennett).
Ah yes, sir. Love those Ford press plates! I had to leave out ever so much from The Sweeney so that the video wasn't too long, but glad you enjoyed it anyway. Yes, you are absolutely right, "The Sweet Smell of Succession" does feature Sue Lloyd (she seems to be in everything) as well as Hywel Bennett.
I don't think that this discussion is going to be very productive. I have released about 40-50 episodes of Cars on Television in this sort of style, and a lot of other viewers seem to be fine with it. You clearly are not a fan of it, there are plenty of other channels on RU-vid to watch, please feel free to go and have a look at some of the other channels which are probably more to your taste. I appreciate your watching nevertheless.
I think that we have come to a suitable point to end the conversation. These videos take hours and hours to make, and I am sure that you can spend your time more profitably elsewhere.
The bronze Ford Granada, NHK295M I think it was the cheaper Consul is the most memorable car in the Sweeney, and later Mk1s and early Mk2s were also used. There was also the blue Mk3 Cortina NMK296M. And a wide variety of other cars used by villains like Jaguars, Vauxhalls and a Triumph 2000. Its just the once boring mundane everyday cars back then parked up in the street or in motion, that are so exciting to look at today. Who would give a second glance at a dour coloured base model Mk1 Escort, Viva, 1100, Avenger, Hunter, Toledo etc in the 1970s, even the odd three wheel Reliant Regal. In one episode a Datsun Cherry 120A coupe honks the horn at Regan and Carter in the second Consul used. Another Datsun 100A is EAR359K and has nothing to do with the programme, just another parked car.
The Consul 3000 GT in Copper Bronze finished restoration in 2019, and looks absolutely stunning, you are right that it is the most memorable car used in the series. I covered the Granadas and Cortinas used in the episode pretty extensively, I think. Yes, it took a while to round up all those Jaguars used in chases, but I did it! The common street furniture cars used in The Sweeney are probably the most interesting ones, that is absolutely right. The Datsun 100A and 120As in particular are virtually extinct now, you would probably only ever see them at shows. Mark I and II Escorts are also worth an absolute fortune these days.
Hi from New Zealand! Great Granada info and pics! We didn't get that car here but I loved it on the Sweeney on the TV as a kid. I've ordered a Series 2 Vanguards model hence my interest in the doco.
Thank you ever so much indeed for watching and commenting all the way from New Zealand! Yes, the Consul 3000 GT was only sold in the UK, so definitely didn't make it over to New Zealand. The restoration job done on it recently is stunning.
@@lloydvehicleconsulting You're most welcome. I had a tiny Oxford model of the Sweeney car once but I gave it away. Kind of missed it hence me getting another, bigger Granada soon, COVID-19 import pratfalls permitting.
@@lloydvehicleconsulting Tell me about it, I had to wait a year to order brand new Maxichamps models. By the way I understand about the limited film footage in this doco. Another RU-vid car enthusiast put up footage of the support races for the 1988 Wellington 500 Touring Car race (Which was a bit like the Birmingham Superprix!) but could not broadcast the main endurance race because the TV sport show the race was played on had old F1 footage which apparently could be cause copyright issues. I appreciate your pic of the Chrysler - those big cars were assembled in New Zealand in the Hutt Valley, from memory, by Todd Motors before Mitsubishi bought out Chrysler's Australian division.
@@alaricbragg7843 , yes, the Chrysler is a fascinating car to find in Britain in the mid 1970s. You are right about copyright issues, they are pretty hit and miss as it is. I have over 50 videos on the Cars on Television and Film playlist, and some of them have been demonetised, and some even blocked. Some are absolutely fine, however! A year to order a model car is insane....
The UK Fords were such cool cars, sure beat the crap they made here in the states at the time. The brown Consul 3000 GT, the white Cortina GT, and the yellow 2 door Capri(?) are my faves. The silver Granada was nice, but I like the other cars better. Did they happen to use the same old Jaguar in every episode and repaint it? 😂
I don't know, really. In "Faces", the S-Type was definitely destroyed. These old Jaguars were so cheap at the time, I don't think that it was even worth repainting them if they got involved in an accident.
I had to laugh at your slip of the tongue John Thaw as Detective Inspector "REASON" he will now be known as this instead of Regan by myself. Great series overall not too many really bad episodes and many great cars as well, definitely one for the Ford fans. Maybe the cars of Minder would be worth doing but the early episodes are quite violent and some are a little risqué in places, but a nice selection of cars nonetheless. Good work Joseph on one of my favourite series.
Oh sir, I apologise for the mistake, but since when is this series ever with professional production quality? There are not that many bad episodes in The Sweeney (although Hearts and Minds is definitely one of them), but all the Fords are wonderful, of course. Minder, as I mentioned below, will not be covered at the moment as I have only seen about four episodes and I wouldn't be able to do it proper justice unless I had actually seen most of them...
In one episode of the Sweeney there is an Austin or Morris 1800, KAR235G that crashes into a Mini and 1100 when the villain driver tries to escape. Also remember Regan driving a bright green MK1 Escort VMM364M i think it is.
That is absolutely right, the green Mark I Escort is VMP 964M and it was not supplied by Ford UK, as far as I know. The episode is called "Cover Story", I believe. Thank you ever so much indeed for watching and commenting!
Yes, it was a J registered 1970 Zodiac Mk4 which appears in the Regan pilot episode and in one of second or third series episodes (I forget which one). It belonged to Paul Weston, one of the stuntmen who worked on the series. Thanks ever so much indeed for watching!
i liked big spender with warren mitchell, (another mk2 wrecked), and also thou shalt not kill, where they escape in a landcrab and change i think to a hunter estate.....briliant nostalga......also the oil crisis made these mk2 jags very cheap to buy and were used as cars they could crash no doubt.
I think I referred to cars used in "Big Spender" (it was an S-Type, actually) and "Thou Shalt Not Kill" during the video, both the Landcrab and the Hillman Hunter estate would have been shown at some point the video. S-Types certainly were cheap, I imagine the oil crisis made them especially so, and they crashed an awful lot of them!
Hi Joseph is the adventurer on your list because General Motors provided a lot of their car’s I recall a car chase with a Opel manta and a Opel rekord or commodore though the streets of Amsterdam
Thanks David! As you probably know, I am re-recording a lot of these episodes, and I have done The Adventurer before. It is a not a great series, but I will do it, probably just because of that car chase between the Manta A and the Commodore A you describe...
I remember one thing that use to spoil the car sequences for me on the Sweeney....you had all these macho Fords,Jaguars etc roaring around...then this silly looking Morris 1100 police car would make an appearance at some point and ruin the whole ambiance. OMG even a Hillman Imp would have been better for a minor role 'panda' car ( for a series of that nature) than all those frumpy old grandad BL cars (Crabs,Maxis ,1100s etc) that turned up in 70s action shows.
I suppose it was realistic to show the panda cars as well as the main Flying Squad ones, The Professionals also has an ADO16 panda car in the episode "When The Heat Cools Off" when there is a 1971 flashback section. Ford actually supplied a genuine Escort Mark II panda car that I didn't mention, and it has a nice workout in terms of the tyres tucking under the wheels. It does look a bit silly....
