What happened to Jeremy Clarkson’s infamous Porsche 928 that was abandoned in Argentina is a sad end to a sorry saga
A sad ending to a sad story The post What happened to Jeremy Clarkson’s infamous Porsche 928 that was abandoned in Argentina is a sad end to a sorry saga appeared first on Supercar Blondie.
We’re now 99 percent sure we know what happened to the Porsche 928 driven by Jeremy Clarkson in the Argentina Special on Top Gear.
The car, along with the Lotus and Mustang used by James May and Richard Hammond, was left in Argentina when the team ‘fled’ the country.
But no one knew what happened to it until very recently.
And it wasn’t a happy ending.
What happened to the Porsche 928 driven by Jeremy Clarkson for the Argentina Special
A little over a decade ago, the Top Gear team headed to Patagonia in Argentina for a Top Gear Special.
For the Argentina Special, James May bought a Lotus Esprit, Richard Hammond bought a Ford Mustang, and Clarkson bought a Porsche 928.
The problem was that the 928 happened to come with a license plate that some people in Argentina thought was a deliberate reference to the Falklands War.
To this day, there’s an ongoing dispute over the Falkland Islands, which Argentina calls Islas Malvinas and claims sovereignty over.
As the team reached Ushuaia, protesters gathered, and the tension rose quite quickly.
As a result, the production team stopped filming and essentially ‘fled’ the country, leaving a lot of equipment, including all three cars, behind.
The BBC (which owns the rights to Top Gear) tried to recover them, but Argentinian authorities said no, mainly because they feared the cars would be displayed as ‘trophies’ in the UK.
Years later, all three cars were crushed.
The reason why we said we’re only 99 percent sure is that only one person was allowed to document the process, and British officials were barred from bringing cameras.
What happened to Top Gear cars after the show
Top Gear presenters used press demonstrators that they gave back after filming.
Jeremy Clarkson’s favorite car, for example, was a Lexus LFA on loan from the manufacturer.
Having said that, the BBC also bought dozens, if not hundreds, of cars for the show, including some exotic and valuable ones.
After each episode aired, the cars remained in the possession of the BBC, unless the presenters decided to buy them and keep them.
But the BBC is a media company and a broadcaster, not a car collector or a car museum, which means the British giant generally tries to get rid of the cars to recover costs.
That’s what happened to the Alfa Romeo 75 (pictured above) that’s now up for auction.
It was sold to a guy in the UK who bought it almost by accident, and now it is expected to fetch $20,000 at auction.The post What happened to Jeremy Clarkson’s infamous Porsche 928 that was abandoned in Argentina is a sad end to a sorry saga appeared first on Supercar Blondie.
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