The third episode of the ninth series of Top Gear aired on the 11th of February, 2007. It was presented by Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, James May and The Stig's American Cousin. It is also known as the US Special and USA Special; the DVD calls it the US Special and the BBC's website call it the USA Special, which may get it confused with the other 3 USA Road Trips.
Synopsis[]
In the first Top Gear special, the trio travels to the US to see if they can find cars for less than $1,000. Starting in Florida, Richard bought a 1991 Dodge Ram 150 pickup truck, James purchased a 1989 Cadillac Brougham, and Jeremy bought a Chevrolet Camaro RS (described as a 1991 model, though analysis would reveal the car was manufactured in 1989). Clarkson, Hammond and May test the cars' trackability with the American equivalent of The Stig before conducting the first acceleration/braking test of the series by having the trio drive down a long strip which feeds directly into alligator-infested waters. Later, in Alabama, they are challenged to get each other shot or arrested and get bonus points for successfully achieving this feat, which they do by decorating each others' cars in provocative slogans. While at a petrol station, the owner confronted them and went on to "get the boys", provoking the crew to remove the slogans and flee Alabama. Lastly, they finish their journey in the freshly-hurricane-stricken New Orleans, Louisiana. The original goal of this final task was to sell the cars, but the trio decided to give their cars away to families impacted by the hurricane.
Cars[]
| Image | Vehicle | Driver |
|---|---|---|
 |
Chevrolet Camaro RS | Jeremy Clarkson |
 |
Dodge Ram | Richard Hammond |
 |
Cadillac Brougham Sedan | James May |
Trivia[]
- Jeremy was hit with a $20,000 lawsuit after the episode's airing for incorrectly identifying his Camaro as a 1991 model despite it being a 1989 model. The result of the lawsuit was not made public.
- This was the first special to feature the presenters in three separate cars, with one main challenge.
- The trio drove into Alabama with locally offensive slogans painted on their vehicles. Stopping at a filling station for fuel, the station owner came outside and started berating them. She then went inside and called "the boys", after which a pickup truck with six or seven young men showed up
- Attempting to hastily leave the station, May's Cadillac had to be jump-started again by Hammond before they rejoined Clarkson and his film crew.
- The locals began pelting the film crews with rocks, and a clip is shown of them hurrying to their vehicles. Only their shadows are seen in the clip because the camera was pointed at the ground.
- The crew shut off the cameras, but continued recording audio.
- Once they were out of sight of the angered locals, a video clip recorded on a lower-quality mobile phone shows the crew hastily removing the provocative slogans by wiping the cars off with their clothes and using a 16-ounce bottle of Coca-Cola. The crew restarted the cameras as the trio fled Alabama for Mississippi.
- Upon arriving in New Orleans, Louisiana, where they saw the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the trio decided to give away their vehicles to locals affected by the disaster instead of selling them. Unfortunately, May was unable even to give away his Cadillac.
- The car lot shown selling decommissioned police cars boasted of supplying many of the cop cruisers wrecked in the movie Bad Boys II.
DVD Release[]
The US Special was released on DVD as part of the first Great Adventures box-set, which also contains the Polar Special. The DVD release of the special cuts roughly eight minutes of footage from the original broadcast, including a segment featuring a drive through a rainstorm when the Camaro's wipers failed, and footage from the first scene in which the trio purchase cars. Some music cues were also changed for copyright reasons.
Was Also Released on The Complete Specials Box Set.
Thumbnail[]
