`
There are so many bad car chases that
it’s a shock to watch a good one
a
Early Discoverys
could be set for a
modding frenzy
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Registration indignation
26 December 1903
TE STE R ’ S N OTE S
Matt Prior
X
ESTABLISHED 1895
Baby Driver: not entirely unrealistic
90 AUTOCAR.CO.UK 7 AUGUST 2 019
hat’s the most commonly
modified car in the world,
I wonder? Probably theVolkswagen Beetle,
b e c au s e p e ople h av e b e e n at it for h a l f
a century and there are millions of
them. Maybe the Jeep Wrangler and
its forebears?
S ome L a nd R ov e r s a r e pr oba bl y
there or thereabouts. Old Series
Landies get rebuilt in non-original
fashion all the time, while newer
Defenders get absurdly modded. The
classic Range Rover game is pretty
strong too. I quite like all of the above.
Anyway, I’ve got a hunch about
what’s up next, the upcoming big
thing in restoration and resto-
modding: the first and second-
generation Land Rover Discovery.
The Disco has been through its
new phase, and then its slightly naff
cheap phase, and through it all it has
always been modified for serious
off-roading, which gives it the level of
authenticity people want.
The problem is that films which
include car chases so often don’t
ge t it r i g ht. T he y don’t c a r e a b out
you or me, so they’ll have somebody
changing down a gear, or putting
their foot fully on the gas pedal
halfway through a drag race, as if
these drivers wouldn’t have thought
about that already. “Oh no wonder
he’s getting away. I set off in fourth!”
There are so many bad car chases
that it’s a shock to watch a good one.
I suspect GoPro and people
wearing Red Bull-branded helmets
haven’t helped the cause. We’re so
used to seeing daredevils being
actual daredevils that movie makers
are turning the drama up to 11 to get
our attention. Which means cars
being chased by nuclear submarines
or winning races backwards while
their engine is on fire.
Thing is, this is just cars, whichhappens to be my specialist subject.
W h at i f y ou’r e i nt o s ome t h i n g
that filmmakers are bound to
take liberties with, like aircraft, or
firearms, or unarmed combat or
law or police procedures or, most
c om mon of a l l , I i m a g i ne , c omput e r s?
THE MOTOR CAR Act 1903, which
introduced vehicle registration,
driver licensing and the offence of
reckless driving, was not popular
among Britain’s early motorists.
Autocar readers’ complaints
included that “a doctor should
b e s p a r e d th e i n d i g n i t y of h av i n g
his car disfigured and labelled
like a public cab” and that “good
lads” not yet 17 working as drivers
shouldn’t have to be sacked.
O n e eve n p r o p o s e d to “ su r r o u n d
the official number with a galaxy of
others all similar to it” in order to
confuse authorities if the Act were
used in a “tyrannical manner”.
Confusion was rife, too, overtechnicalities, such as whether one
hiring out cars with a view to selling
them had to register each or if ‘the
right to try’ made this needless.
A s a n a s i d e , we n ote d th a t th e
first reg – A1 – went to the Napier of
S o now, at 30, e a rl y c a r s h av e c ome the Second Earl Russell in London.
out the other side of all of that and
they’re ripe for a proper makeover.
There are loads around, except early
three-doors, and plenty are as cheap
a s c h ip s. C om i n g t o a he av i l y f i lt e r e d
Instagram page near you soon.
■ Re-watched the movie Baby Driver
the other day, because it’s a terrific
y a r n a nd , b e t t e r s t i l l , a f i l m w it h
c a r s i n t h at do e sn’t m a k e me w a nt
to smack my head against a
steering wheel.
The first time I watched it I did
worry for a moment (this isn’t a
s p oi le r, b y t he w ay, it ’s t he op e n i n g
scene). Our eponymous hero, Baby,
who’s a getaway driver, puts his
Subaru WRX into gear while waiting
for a ba n k r a id t o t a k e pl a c e. Heslams the gearlever to the right, and
backwards, and then waits for his
compadres to get back into the car.
“But that’s not first gear,” you and
I will think, because we know about
this sort of thing.
Anyway, then the robbers climb
aboard, Baby gives the WRX the
beans and drops the clutch, and to
the surprise of his passengers... the
car sets off backwards, exactly like
it should do. Lord love you writer/
director Edgar Wright. Should never
have doubted you for a second.
W