Now this, I want to make it plain, is not Hollywood.
We're not going to use any computer graphics.
We haven't made any mechanical alterations to the car... at all.
We just picked it up from the farmyard and brought it here.
Dearie me. That was a bit uncomfortable.
It damaged my spine quite badly doing this.
And then it set about damaging Bristol.
This didn't really hurt it either.
Yeah, battery's good. Radiator's good. That'll buff out.
That's got it.
So, we left the city centre and went to the seaside.
I'd tried careless driving.
So I thought I'd try a spot of careless parking.
Look what's happened!
This is the Severn estuary, home to the second biggest tide in the world.
Forty feet and it moves at eight miles an hour.
That's why the RNLI have tethered my car in place.
I'm not going to get that out for hours!
Damn!
The lifeboat men and locals thought it was a huge laugh.
-So, that's going to drown my car. -Oh, yes.
-When will I be able to get it out again? -A few hours.
Windscreen's still in.
But then disaster.
The ropes tying it down had snapped.
-It could be out in the main channel. -You may never see it again.
I don't think you've quite got this. We've got to get it back.
Very kindly they waded out to see if they could find it.
But it had gone.
And it didn't turn up until the tide had gone out five hours later.
Come on! Come on!
The silt had jammed the steering lock
and the cylinders were flooded with seawater.
It was a wreck and though we'd brought a mechanic along,
we had no spare parts.
Things looked bleak.
Well, the mechanic has worked on it now for 40 minutes or so, I think.
And it's not looking good.
It seems, then, that if you want to kill one of these things,
the beach, the sea, salt water, is the answer.
Sorry.
Wrong.
Astonishingly, the Toyota was not dead.
I do not believe it!
Right, it's started.
Now, let's see if it moves.
So, it had survived the West Country, but would it survive our test track?
The problem is, what can we do here that we haven't already tried?
Difficult one.
I mean, the only solid structure we have here is this,
the Top Gear production office.
And that won't stop it.
The Americans have used Daisy Cutters on these things to no avail.
But I've got something much more powerful.
The Mistral GT.
What do you have to do to kill one?
Right. A bit undignified, but here we go.
Lordy lord! I'm too old for this.
I honestly can't believe this. The steering's fine. The gearbox is fine,
The low range box is fine. The brakes are fine.
Even the speedo's telling me we're doing 30.
To give you an idea of just how strong this car still is...
look what we've got here.
It's used to fell skyscrapers,
but look what happens when you thump it into the car.
Well, the day Thou gavest, Lord, is ended.
But, sadly, the car isn't.
It's survived trial by water,
It's survived trial by Bristol and trial by caravan.
But now it must face the most difficult trial of them all.
Trial by fire.
That was phenomenal.
-I know. Amazing. -Be honest.
-Did you really not change any bits? -Not a thing, other than the windscreen.
We had to put a new one in for driving through our production office,
otherwise it would've taken my head off. So, we put a new piece of Perspex in.
That was it. Other than that, nothing. We just had hammers, spanners
and a bit of WD-40 to get the engine going after the sea.
All of which makes it more of a shame that in the end, you killed it with fire.
-That was churlish. -Well, that's the thing.
You probably won't believe this, ladies and gentlemen.
I want a huge round of applause.
It is still working!