Top Gear

Good evening and welcome to Top Gear

where, tonight, we're talking about unusual specimens,

not Ant and Wreck over there, but rare cars.

Because if you want to get your hands on a truly rare car,

you could spend millions on a machine like this -

one of 14 right-hand drive Ferrari 275 GTS.

It's just beautiful. Look at it.

It is nice but you could go the cheaper route.

If you do a bit of digging, for not much money,

you can find some properly rare cars,

the last of their kinds.

Yeah, cars that were once common but are now nearly extinct.

So, the producers told Fred and me to go out

and pick the rarest, cheapest cars we could find

and then meet up with them...

in Borneo.

Borneo.

A vast jungle island

over three times the size of Great Britain,

a unique ecosystem that's home

to some of the strangest, rarest beasts on Earth...

and about to be home to two more.

Come on.

Come on.

Ah. Come on!

How are you? Good to see you.

From Bolton. Right...

Oh, cars.

I can't wait to see what you brought.

Now, let me tell you,

I've been to some very mysterious parts of the internet

finding this car. I'm sure you have, Paddy.

This is a proper, rare one-off. Right.

I give you...

the Matra Bagheera S.

Feast your eyes on that, son.

Mid-engine, rear-wheel drive, low centre of gravity -

proper sports car, Fred.

Push-button, nice.

Three seats.

Did somebody say McLaren F1? No. Yes, I did.

There's only four in the UK.

This is the only right-hand drive that Matra did theirselves.

And, just for extra points,

this is the original brochure for this car.

And that car you're looking at there, the original, is that.

Seriously? That is the same? That is that, my friend.

Bagheera.

So, it's named after a Disney character?

I'll forgive your ignorance. How much?

Six grand, just under.

Six grand. I'll give you it, it's obscure.

Well, that's the point, Fred. That's the point.

Is it quick? Quick?!

Oh! 118 top end.

Look at how low this car is. Look at the ground clearance.

Well, yeah, it's low because it's a sports car, Fred.

But you're in Borneo.

Have you seen the terrain you're going to be going on?

This is useless. I've never been to Borneo before!

I'm not well-travelled like you.

Come here, let me show you this. This is what you should have had.

This is the car that is going to wipe the floor with you.

I present to you...

the Austin Allegro estate.

Both British and exotic.

Well, listen, I don't want to disappoint you,

but the words "British" and "exotic" don't go together. Paddy...

It's an Allegro. Oh, no, no, no, no.

I mean, there's loads of them. No, no, not this Allegro.

This is an estate. This is rarer, Paddy. Rarer.

Just a couple knocking about.

And it's three and a half grand.

Half the price of that, more or less.

Yeah, I know it's half the price cos it's half the car.

Half the price, double the car.

There's no way that's getting across Borneo.

This is mint. This is as fast as the day it left the factory.

So, very slow, then. Faster than yours. Fa...!

Well, we'd soon see.

Three...

two, one...

go.

Come on, Matra, let's go.

Oh, bloomin' heck.

I've got the cover on the back.

It's acting like a parachute as well. That's not happening.

French engineering at its best!

Suppose he's got a bit of drag. That's what he'll be saying.

"I've got a bit of drag with this at the back of my car.

"The dust sheet's slowing me down."

Ugh. Look at Paddy. He'll be all happy with himself.

Well done, Paddy, you've won in a sports car.

Now, the mission we've been given for our classics was a simple one -

head up the road out of town

and keep driving

until we could drive no more.

But, just because the route was simple,

it didn't mean it would be easy.

God. I've literally only just got off the airstrip

and we're struggling here.

If I was to draw a car I didn't want to drive around Borneo,

I reckon I'd draw that.

But survive the journey

and we've been told our rare beasts might just earn themselves a place

in one of the world's most legendary car collections -

a place that, frankly, my car was made for.

Matra Bagheera.

Wow.

I love the steering wheel.

I like the little flat bit at the bottom,

very Lamborghini-esque.

In fact, at its launch,

it was known as the little Lamborghini,

and I can see why.

Matra is almost forgotten nowadays,

but, 40 years ago, it led the world in motorsport.

In 1969, Matra won the F1 World Championships

with Jackie Stewart.

And it won Le Mans three times -

1972, 1973, and 1974.

Proper pedigree, this car.

Phew!

I'm having some of my cooling spray.

Oh.

Bit down here.

Oh, God, a pothole!

Ooh, flipping heck!

Paddy's rushing. This is the tortoise and the hare, this.

You've brought a sports car to Borneo.

Go on, you rush around scratching the bottom,

I'm just going to take it nice and easy in my Allegro.

Now, this is the HL line which means it's the posh one.

You get the head rests.

You get a massive quartz clock.

So you can keep your Bentley Mulsannes

and your Rolls-Royce Phantoms,

this is pure luxury.

After a couple of hours on the road,

our progress was good.

But, heading into the hills,

and still tiptoeing around potholes,

Borneo threw in a new, unavoidable obstacle -

mud.

Come on, Bagheera.

Oh, God.

Oh, this is tricky.

Oh, my word.

We're going in.

Nice and slow, Pad.

I'm giving it some! How are you going to get the nose up that hill?

Go on, Bagheera. Go on!

Yes! Yes!

Yes!

Whoa!

Up we go!

That is unbelievable!

Woo!

What a car!

Go on.

Oh. Hang on.

I might have pushed the girl too far.

Let's try this.

Oh, Paddy's stopped.

You right, Pads?

Wha...?

Slight technical.

What the frigging hell's that in my car?

Get out!

Oh, yes.

Can't believe I've just been overtaken by an Allegro.

Fred, I might need a bit of help here.

I might have to get out and give it a little bit of a shunt.

I tell you what we need, we need some rocks or something,

don't we, under the wheels?

I'll fish some out.

You sort them out, I'll get some out of here.

You've got to be careful in here, though, Paddy.

Any chance of something with a bit of substantiality to it?

Well, do you want to have a look? There's all sorts in here.

He brought that out. What's that going to do?

In here, Paddy, in here there's tarantulas, right?

Flying snakes. They're not going to bother you.

Sumatran cobras that spray poison in your eyes and blind you.

You'll be all right. Black leopards, stalk you in silence -

one bite on the throat, you're dead.

You're from Preston, there's worse round there.

Back, back!

Get a brick under the other side as well, Fred. Oh, you sit there,

you're all right, I'll get the bricks.

Well, I'm the pilot, aren't I? Bloomin' heck.

There's them who sit in the car and reverse

and there's them who put rocks under the tyres, son.

Go on.

What about giving it a bit of a...

at the front, give it a push at the front.

How about you get out for two minutes?

Lift it!

Oh, that's it, go on, Fred!

It's not even a tonne, this car, it's lightweight.