Top Gear Botswana Cars Page

Oliver lives on. The Lancia was scrapped. The Mercedes probably still starts on the first turn of the key.

Clarkson, in a move that surprised absolutely no one who knows his love for flawed Italian flair, bought a rotting, rusty 1981 Lancia Beta Coupé for just over a grand. The Lancia Beta is infamous in car history for catastrophic rust issues—body panels literally dissolving in European rain. Taking one to the salt-crusted pans of Botswana was automotive suicide. top gear botswana cars

Hammond found a baby-blue 1969 Opel Kadett in a muddy used-car lot. It looked like a fragile toy from West Germany, but Hammond immediately bonded with it, naming it “Oliver.” The Kadett was slow, underpowered, and had no business crossing the Makgadikgadi salt flats. Oliver lives on