Wheeler Dealers TV show - Ed China leaving

[Welly]

Well it didn't take long for the US to ruin another perfectly good TV show.

The US production company don't like how the show concentrates most of the viewing time on actually doing the work of fixing the cars (Ed's bit) in the workshop and want to reduce this considerably (presumably to focus on the 'turn around' of the car without showing how it was achieved so much).

So Ed's jacked it in and the show could become another ghastly 'reveal' type show without any of the technical hints and tips we've come to enjoy. Bloody great it's saddening to think no-one is interested in how the work is done but rather concentrate on the end result only, how shallow and materialistic are they?

[dirtydirtydiesel]

Couldn't agree with you more Welly,
I for one would much rather them concentrate on the 'doing' / fixing on these shows
Although I have spent some of the last fifteen or so years ranting at Mike Brewer
That when he does his sum's at the end & says Yay we made £100 profit he's NOT taken into
consideration the labour costs of edd

[highlander]

Literally the whole point of Wheeler Dealers is that when you are buying and selling cars, you are Mike, and when you are fixing cars, you are Ed.

That's why Ed shows you how to fix the cars, and gives you tips on how to achieve the results he gets. There is no labour cost if it's you that's wielding the spanners. You'll notice they add bodyshop costs and specialist services like gearbox rebuilds, which Ed doesn't do himself as it's not reasonable to expect a DIY mechanic to strip down and rebuild a precision component like a gearbox, or conduct a showroom-grade full body respray in your garden shed. Although Ed's workshop is rather better equipped than the average DIY mechanic's garage is.

Cutting Ed's part of the show out makes the show utterly worthless, because the trading part is completely rudimentary anyway. Although Ed's choice of paint colours is sometimes questionable, his part of the show is what makes the show what it is.

[dirtydirtydiesel]

My point being if that's real world wheeler dealing you'd starve.
You spend days, neh weeks doing up a car to make a couple of hundred quid profit.
No wonder Mike had to sell out to t.v production company's.

[PeterN]

How stupid, the part of the show I like best is watching Ed working on the cars instead of me. I learn't a lot about cars that I have never owned as well, very educational.

We were at the Haynes museum a couple of years ago and they were filming some very old cars and showing them how to use a starting handle without breaking your fingers!

Still, I don't think Ed will ever be out of work. It was quite obvious that they never made any money out of the jobs but it got people to watch the programme.

Peter

[Welly]

I was watching an old WD episode on Tuesday night where Ed fixed an Audi titty gearbox for 50 pence. My missus was really amazed and we discussed how many car problems are actually very simple once you locate the issue. Ed's fix was very practical, simple and effective whereas the alternative was a new gearbox or rebuild costing £££££.

Ed should join the Top gear show and turn it back into a show about everyday cars within our reach rather than hooning around a track in 'hyper' cars

[PeterN]

I agree, with Clarkson it was at least entertaining so I can sort of forgive him for not knowing much about cars except how to drive them fast round an airfield. The real problem is how many people even look under the bonnet of their cars now, its only the likes of us who want to know whats going on under the bonnet and why.

Peter

[Welly]

Indeed, I'm sure my neighbours think both our cars are shite because I'm always poking about under the bonnet but that's what I like doing, always have, even if it's just to slosh in a bit more screenwash (I like seeing the blue liquid near the top of the filler)

[dirtydirtydiesel]

on that subject my neighbours on one side think I'm mad 'keeping that old clunker going'
little does the fool know that my car owes me less than his yearly depreciation
& that's after 4 years & 50k
On the other side they say 'oh you are lucky to be able to fix it yourself '
Read a manual & buy some tools
Ah well I've been meddling with my own stuff since my Raleigh Boxer age six

That's why I went into engineering, one it interests me, two I can do more stuff for myself.
Back in the late 80's I read Performance Bikes Magazine
& I used to drool over the Spondon specials.
I remember thinking I'll never afford one of them
So I went to college, got highly skilled at welding and fabrication ( I worked in this field for my day job)
By my 22nd birthday I had built my first alloy framed special

[PeterN]

When I started driving in the mid '50s practically everyone repaired their own cars unless they were well off. I was a TV engineer which was pretty well paid in those days and myself and practically everyone else in the trade that I knew repaired their own cars. There were very few teenagers running cars then and the chances are if you saw one he was a TV engineer but even so most could not afford garage prices even in those days.

I have repaired mine ever since, its the only way I can afford to run them. I have two 406 Hdi estates, the tax is cheap, the fuel consumption is excellent, they are roomy and comfortable and they very rarely go wrong. I paid £400 for the wife's which is a GLX and so far we have covered about 10k miles in it and its never broken down, the other one was £350 with a lower mileage than the wife's with a similar reliability story.

My original one which I bought about 6 years ago had a major electronic failure and had done nearly 250k is now parked at the top of the field and is my major spare parts department - very convenient, the only thing I have bought lately is wiper blades.

Peter

[Welly]

Great posts there both.

I'm staggered. On the Radio this very morning (Crapital FM) a local Ford Dealership were suggesting NOW IS THE TIME to buy a brand-new Ford to 'beat' the new Road Tax increases in April

Oh that's right, yeah that makes sense, I'll spend £14,000.00 on one of your shitboxes and I'll 'save' money. FRO

[OllieNZ]

What an abortion, very typical of modern American tv. I used to enjoy American chopper until it turned into a celebrity reality bs show and now the same for Wheeler Dealers pffft.

The only reason I can afford to run a car let alone 2 cars is doing the work myself. Injector seals on my 307? £6 in parts and a few hours of my time. Would have been a £600+ bill for a garage to do the same job.

[PeterN]

Yep.

Peter