Top Gear Botswana Cars -

The Lancia, along with the other cars, was left with a local mechanic named Noah. It was later found in Botswana and is now a well-known, albeit heavily aged, piece of Top Gear history. 2. Richard Hammond’s 1963 Opel Kadett (Oliver)

While it was heavy and sometimes struggled in the thick mud of the Okavango Delta, the Mercedes proved to be a tank, often providing the most reliable transportation of the group.

James May, adhering to his reputation for sensible (yet often boring) choices, opted for a 1985 Mercedes-Benz 230E . top gear botswana cars

. All three hosts found this prospect so "humiliating" that they worked tirelessly to keep their original cars running.

The producers issued a strict rule: if any host's car died permanently, they would be forced to drive a backup vehicle. For this trip, the backup was a bright yellow Volkswagen Beetle. The Lancia, along with the other cars, was

To cope with the suffocating heat and dust, Clarkson was forced to strip the Lancia down to its bare bones. He removed the doors, the hood, the boot lid, and most of the interior trim to reduce weight and improve airflow. Despite the constant breakdowns and the fact that it was completely open to the elements—including dust storms and swarming insects—the Lancia miraculously survived the journey to the Namibian border. Clarkson frequently declared it the most unreliable car that somehow never actually died. 3. The Mercedes-Benz 230E: James May’s Unstoppable Tank Vehicle Overview 2.3-liter inline-4 (M102) Power: Approximately 134 horsepower Drive Layout: Front-engine, rear-wheel drive Performance in the Desert

Surprisingly, the Lancia proved to be the fastest and most adaptable car on the salt pans. Despite losing its starting motor—forcing Clarkson to start it with a brick or get a push every single time—the car survived the entire journey. It earned the title of the most surprising survivor in the show's history. 3. The Classy 1985 Mercedes-Benz 230E (James May) Richard Hammond’s 1963 Opel Kadett (Oliver) While it

Ever the pragmatist, May chose a car known for its tank-like build quality. The Mercedes-Benz W123 is a staple of African taxi fleets, and it lived up to its reputation. While May spent most of the trip stripping the interior to save weight, the car remained remarkably reliable compared to the Lancia.

The Top Gear Botswana Special shifted the formula of the show away from reviewing new supercars toward celebrating the bond between humans and old automobiles. The episode proved that regular road cars possess a level of durability that modern, electronics-heavy vehicles rarely match.

The Top Gear Botswana Special, which first aired in November 2007 as part of Season 10, is widely considered the blueprint for the modern motoring television special. Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May were set a seemingly impossible challenge: buy a used, standard, two-wheel-drive car for less than £1,500 in South Africa, and drive it 1,000 miles across the harsh, unforgiving terrains of Botswana.