James May's Cars of the People

- Season 1

(2014)

A look at European cars: the VW Beetle, the Trabant, the Wartburg 353, the Fiat 500, the Fiat 124 and the Lada which was based on the Fiat 124.

A look at two extremes: the massive American gas-guzzling "automotive palaces" with their excess of chrome and fins, and the low-powered three-wheeler microcars which could be driven without a driving licence or on a motorbike licence. Cars discussed include: Eldorado Biarritz, Messerschmitt FMR Tg500 Tiger, Zundapp Janus (in which the driver and passenger sat back-to-back), BMW Isetta, Reliant Robin, KV1 (and other French "voitures sans permit"), Peel Trident. James then looks at the slightly larger mainstream cars such as the Citroen 2CV and Renault 4. Finally he ...

James continues to take a look at the examination of the social significance of cars by taking a look at how aspiration and new wealth were behind the development of some of the greatest cars ever built.