James May drives a 'ridiculously' American Ford in California and reveals his verdict

Ex-Top Gear and ex-Grand Tour star James May drove a ‘ridiculously American’ Ford Torino Convertible in California, and he had something to say about it.

You know you’re off to a good start when somebody calls something ‘ridiculously American’.

But James May used this expression for a very specific reason.

And his final verdict was interesting.

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What James May really thinks about this big Ford

In theory, James May launched his new YouTube channel to promote his own gin brand, but, in practice, his YouTube looks halfway between a car channel and a vlog.

Among other things, the ex-Top Gear presenter has used his channel to talk about his experience with the Cybertruck and also with Waymo.

For his latest video, James May ‘reviewed’ a 1969 Ford Torino Convertible, which is a massive cabriolet with red paintwork and an incredibly large, yet underpowered V8.

After renting the car on Turo in California, May took it for a spin and explained why this car is so ‘American’.

For starters, despite being over five meters (200+ inches) long, this was considered a ‘mid-size’ car when it came out.

Secondly, it is powered by a 5.8-liter V8, which is large by European standards but was actually the second-smallest V8 option for the Torino.

But, as May said in the video, none of that matters, because this car is great, precisely because it’s flawed.

“It’s like a piece of very old furniture. It’s wobbly, the steering is vague, but it’s pleasant. And it has the classic American V8 rumble, which is one of the sounds that made America,” he said in the video.

Is the V8 making a comeback?

Good old V8s are making a bit of a comeback, largely due to popular demand.

AMG, for example, is bringing back a V8 option for some of its cars because the four-cylinder engine they replaced it with wasn’t exactly a best seller.

Ram did something similar for the 1500 truck, and for the same reason.

Ferrari is on the same page.

The newly-launched Ferrari Amalfi is still powered by a V8.