Book Review: Top Gear's Midlife Crisis Cars
Matt Master’s Book about Popular Sports Cars
Written with a great deal of humour, but still with the essential automotive knowledge expected from a motoring correspondent, Matt Master’s Top Gear’s Midlife Crisis Cars (BBC Books, 2008) is a fun read for fans of sports- and supercars.
Coveted Cars
Master has divided over fifty cars into six chapters:
- The Messy Divorce (including: Ferrari Mondial Cabriolet, Porsche 914, MGB Roadster)
- Bond, Premium Bond (including: Aston Martin V8, Jaguar XJ220)
- Shoestring Fellows (including: Opel Kadett GT/E, Ford Capri, Nissan 300ZX)
- Impatience as a Virtue (including: BMW M5, Mitsubishi Lancer EX 2000 Turbo, Maserati Quattroporte)
- Undertaking the Joneses (including: Mercedes 450 SLC, BMW 8 Series)
- Global Village Idiot (including: Mitsubishi Starion, Mazda RX-7, Datsun 240-Z)
While there doesn’t seem to be any real method for the placement of some of the cars into some of these categories, this is of little concern to the reader, as the glossy nostalgic photographs of the cars and humorous accompanying text are enough to keep any car enthusiast engaged.
Instantly recognisable models include the Lotus Esprit, Ferrari Testarossa, Porsche 911 and Alfa Romeo Spider (which Master describes as “a car only ever suited to pretty Tuscan signoras in gigantic sunglasses and tiny skirts”). However there are many more models on offer – including the more obscure Jensen Healey, Conte Amphibious Car and even a Lamborghini tractor.
Car Statistics
Each entry is preceded with a small number of statistics – production dates, top speed, the time from 0-60mph and finally a crisis rating i.e. how bad the owner’s midlife crisis has to be to warrant purchase of the car. This is a 0 to 5 rating, with accompanying cartoons of a man with an ever-receding hairline.
Top Gear Magazine and Top Gear TV
An international audience familiar with Top Gear only from the television program may be disappointed at first to find that the book does not feature the popular hosts of the program – Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond. Midlife Crisis Cars is written very much in the style of the program however and is quintessentially British in both the selection and critiques of the cars included. American fans, for example, may baulk at Master’s summation of the Corvette Convertible as a “tacky two-seater”, but can take heart that British manufacturer Lotus is treated with equal disregard, with cars that will “break down in a truly ruinous fashion just when you least expect it.”
As a features writer and road tester for Top Gear magazine, Master certainly has the credentials required to get away with such tongue-in-cheek jibes, and has put together a classic coffee table book that would make a perfect gift for anyone who has ever dreamed of owning a prestige sports car.
