''For the Love of Cars'' is a one-hour automotive show first broadcast in 2014 on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. It is meant to show the character of quintessentially British and European cars through both the engineering and the social side of the car. The show is presented by actor and car enthusiast

Philip Glenister Philip Haywood Glenister (born 10 February 1963) is an English actor. He is best known for his role as DCI Gene Hunt in the BBC series ''Life on Mars'' (2006–2007) and its sequel '' Ashes to Ashes'' (2008–2010). He also played DCI William ...

with designer and restoration expert Ant Anstead.

Format

Each show begins with a quick discussion of the car that is to be featured in that episode. Some of the history, and why it is important to British motoring is covered. This is followed by Anstead attempting to locate one of these cars, typically through a barn find, to restore. As the car is restored by Ant and his team at his car restoration company in Hertfordshire (Evanta Motor Co, although this is never mentioned in the show), Phil looks into the social side of the vehicles, meeting owners' clubs and attending events to get a feel for how the restoration should progress. Phil takes the lead in guiding Ant as to how he would like the restored project to look, but often has his mind changed through discussions with enthusiasts at events. After the car is restored, Phil and Ant take it for a test drive before they are joined by several similar cars owned by car club members who give their opinions on the restored work. The car is then put on auction at the prestigious Coys of Kensington. Starting with episode 2 of Series 2, Phil and Ant pick up on other people's car restoration projects that have gone unfinished due to various reasons such as unemployment, declining health, or the untimely death of the restorer. Once the car is restored and placed on auction, all proceeds go to the previous owner for charitable purposes.

Series 1

Series 2

Unlike the first series, the feature car of each episode was shown being sold at auction at the

NEC is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. The company was known as the Nippon Electric Company, Limited, before rebranding in 1983 as NEC. It provides IT and network soluti ...

, Birmingham, at the end of the episode (instead of being sold at the end of the series). Starting from episode 2 onward, Ant is given the car for £0 by the owner to restore the car back to its original state; any money that is made at the auction is given to the owner.

Specials

Broadcast

In Australia, Series 1 first aired in 2014 on ABC. Series 1 also aired on

subscription television Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to Subscription business model, subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichan ...

channel

Discovery Turbo Discovery Turbo (previously known as Discovery Turbo MAX in Australia) is a pay television channel devoted to programming about transport. It is similar to Discovery Velocity and Motor Trend. It was also briefly available as an on-demand service ...

, beginning on 17 July 2015. Series 2 premiered on

9Go! 9Go! is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel, which was launched by the Nine Network on 9 August 2009, replacing Nine Guide. It is a youthful channel that offers a mix of comedy, reality, general entertainment, movies, ani ...

on 1 December 2015.

References

External links

Channel 4 programme page
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150416070403/http://www.channel4.com/programmes/for-the-love-of-cars , date=16 April 2015 2014 British television series debuts 2016 British television series endings Automotive television series Auction television series Channel 4 original programming Driving in the United Kingdom English-language television shows Conservation and restoration of vehicles