The cars of my childhood. At the time we had a 1966 Ford Taunus 20m (very rare in England), a 1970 Morris 1300 which had already started to rust, and my Dad had just got a K registered Cortina 1600L as a company car.
Fantastic, a roll call of cars and lorries from the 70's. Liked the Commer lorry and the Aston of course, plus there was a Ford Corsair. Great film clip, nice one.
One interesting observation is that the "grockle" traffic is in fact 90% local if you look at the vehicle registrations! It is also worth noting that the then hated "grockle" has become the much treasured source of work and income for the South West who only now becomes a bit of a nuisance during August when arriving in massed numbers...but they still bring a wallet full of money! My parents and I were those "grockles" from 1950 onwards!..so spot 1947 VW Sedan FTM 594 and it was me!
BBC fake news! Around same time as Panorama's Spaghetti tree April Fool joke? BBC always loved taking piss out of Licence payers. I don't watch so don't pay.
1:27 "There aren't as many railways as there used to be..." - the immediate knock on effect of having a transport minister who was directly involved with a tarmac company - we're suffering dearly for it now and we'll continue to do so!
iv got an 1100 bright red with only 56,000 miles!! its bright and shiny!, looks like new from a close distance! they are amazing to drive! like you are floating on a bed of air! it attracts massive attention!! certainly puts a smile on everyones face! i think a lot perished due to rust! i think mine survived due to being undersealed and waxoiled! they were way ahead of their time mechanically! if it wasnt due to the tin worm there would be many left!
I had forgotten how popular the old austin 1100/1300 were. I bet most of the cars in that film were maintained at home too, some people nowadays book them in to a garage to have such simple tasks done when in the 70s i remember freezing in the drive pumping the clutch pedal for my dad on his mini. Wish i could go back.
I remember sitting on "Hilly Head", Wellington on the A38 and mocking the Grockles and Emmets in the days before the M5 and the by-pass were built. The traffic in this film was flowing much faster than it did through Wellington on those Bank Holidays. Now I can look out of my kitchen window in Derbyshire and observe the entire M1 at a standstill most Fridays. That's progress, I guess.
Ed shunt mocking the grockles eh, isn't that Just typical or small minded cornishmen. They are too stupid to realise that without Tourists they would starve. I used to take my young family on holidays to the west country. Until I finally got cheesed of with Being ripped off, by rude ignorant yokels. I had a few excellent holidays in Dorset . Before realising that Spain offered better Food, better weather, better service, Better value for money, and nicer people.
The newest cars are L reg so it is probably Easter 1973. Don't think the M5 was built as far as Exeter at the time, so this must be the A38 between Taunton and Exeter.
The Cortina , Chrysler 180 and Hillman Hustler are all 1970 released cars....and there are few examples......I had estimated it was 1971 but it wouldn't surprise me if it was 1973...
i remember every sunday down the road there would be a couple of cars with the bonnet up or jacked up with a wheel off,then it would be a trip down the breakers with ya tool box to get a starter motior or something else you need.You always see cars round with odd colour door or a wing that had been blown in with a rattle can to cover the rust hole repair done the weekend before.
this reminds me of when I was 2. I was born in '72 but the cars seen here were all around in 74. So many Renault 6 around! A Saab 99, (my Dad had one) a pair of Ford Corsairs (I had one). I could name every single car in this clip, no problem!
Excellent. Clever and witty. Superb line regarding roadworks for the unsuspecting motorists... 'a veritable haven of enchantment '..... Remembering well, the Exeter bypass before the M5.
I saw Renaults, a Citroen, Simca, and Saab, but no Japanese Datsuns or Toyotas. The most common was the BMC 1100/1300 with at least ten, but I saw no Mk4 Zephyrs, Hillman Imps, BMC Farinas and 1800s, Rover and Triumph 2000s. The only Mini was a Traveller estate. The Mk2 Cortina looked very similar to the Hillman Hunter.
I lived in Dawlish, Devon around this time and come Summer our town was packed with the Foreigners from other parts of Britain especially the Strange Peoples from the Northern Regions who wore caps and carried Black Puddings around with them saying things like "Ebygum."
@lndac02 Notice even from this video from 1972, foreign cars were starting to make an appearance. Ford and Rootes of this time were quite good, but British Leyland and Vauxhall were in decline and making some awful cars like the Marina and the FE Victor. By the mid seventies the Japanese invasion was in full swing and they were making cars that were not only very reliable and cheap but also well equipped with radios and sunroofs that were usually an option on European cars.
I think the 1100/1300 was the British No.1 seller for most of the late '60s. Not much to do on a modern car I suppose - oil and plugs every few years and the rest takes care of itself! (you have to pay the garage to reset the 'service light' though)
The newest cars on here have L-suffix numbers which ran from 1st August '72 'til 31st July '73.. so I reckon it's mid '73 or Aug/Sep '72. Can't be '71 though, unless they're time travellers! ;o)
Why the hate against Japanese Cars? dont get me wrong, I love seeing those British cars and I would give anything to make it as great as it was back in the 60s/70 and all those cars in this video were simply gorgeous but I dont understand why the Japanese are blamed for the decline of the car industry
A strange mix of cars not typical for the UK as a whole in 1973. Few BMCs, no large Farinas and only 2 Minis and an over representation of Ford Escorts and Renaults. I think a lot of that is local traffic.
Passed my driving test in one of these, 0:31 and 0:58 Renault 16TS back in 1979. Was a lovely car to drive, except my dad would never let me borrow it once I'd passed......
Also at 1.55 an Austin 3 Litre makes an appearance, this was supposed to be Austin's luxury car but bombed as the upper middle class buyers preferred Rovers and Jaguars. These are very rare now.
I expected to see a Marina, my pick would be at 1.53 the 3 litre, now that is a car worth having, least I know what most of them are ...still Great Britain I guess
They didn't do a 3 litre Marina. However a 1.8 TC two door still floats my boat. Hold on, I see what you mean. My pick of the bunch is Morris/Austin 1300GT...... I want one now.
What strikes me is how 90 percent of the cars on the road then were British, with just a smattering of Renaults and VWs and one Volvo. Not a Japanese car to be seen.
The modern equivilent seems to be any ford with Colour coded bumpers. There are stacks of cars round here that one week have a bumper held together with gaffer tape and the next the car turns up resplendant with its new but non colourmatching bumpers :)
Brilliant piece of journalism, TONGUE IN CHEEK and Monty Python would be proud. August 1973 or 1974 I reckon. Lots of road works going on to improve the A30 ?? or A303 ?? He should have started by saying 'Hello, Good evening, and welcome' Great film. I used to break up these cars in the early '80s and banger races the BMC A60s What larks
Talk about going 'off piste', this reporter manages to go from talking about holiday traffic to grey squirrels! lol classic. Can you imagine a reporter casually walking along the side of a road (with no pavement) now while talking about traffic!!! Also, you can tell how old this is as he's talking about declining use of rail travel.....................well not now, not almost 50 years later.
firedup643 On the contrary, modern cars are much better built, rust far less due to the large-scale use of galvanised steel, and can be easily driven 120,000 miles without an engine overhaul. Not so in the 70s, especially with regard to BL and Rootes cars.
Hmmm.... hadn't spotted that before! It looks to me like an Aston Martin DBS. The only other similar shape around was the Audi 100 Coupe but this looks just a bit too wide and fat-wheeled for one of them.
Oh, honestly, listen to this guy! Filming people getting away to the sunny beach for a nice weekend (enjoying FREEDOM in other words) and complaining about it like it's a major problem. What does he expect people to do, go back to London and stay there like good little sheep? Come on, Londoners, go enjoy the sun! Don't let these media types get in your way! Crank up that Austin and GO!
I no wot you mean.A friends sister had a Rover P5 with all differant colour doors front wing and rear wing down one side after hitting a lamp post,i supose if someone done that now with a modern car the car would be just scapped.There was also them new panal places about so you would see cars with black front wings and silver coloured new seals and rear archs welded on or a white fiberglass front wing.Thanks for posting the clip anyway,great memorys,
Roads are like this everywhere now,just taken us over an hour to travel 10 miles from Gloucester to Stroud,and that is not city roads.Roads closed, eternal traffic lights.
Brilliant piece of journalism, TONGUE IN CHEEK and Monty Python would be proud. August 1973 or 1974 I reckon. Lots of road works going on to improve the A30 ?? or A303 ?? He should have started by saying 'Hello, Good evening, and welcome' Great film. I used to break up these cars in the early '80s and banger races the BMC A60s Im a PLONKER, he mentions EASTER so its not August but APRIL 1973 or 1974 What larks
fantastic this they sure dont make cars like they use to to many bloody computers in cars now :( bring back the good old days when driving was a joy :)
this is HILARIOUS . grockles are a pain in the ass! lol. traffic in Braunton goin to Croyde is Grockle mad. I hate that they keep finding the back roads because they get half way down meet a car coming the other way and suddenly realise they can't reverse!
my father bought a brand new l reg hillman avenger in 72,which decided to go on fire after a few months,the hilman hunter was a good car though in its day
the car at 2:20 is definitely an aston martin not an audi 100s coupe. the body is angular at rear and as boo66 says much too wide for and audi coupe. Bothe were great cars......
the KL and M in the video are suffixes, not prefixes, these cars, if still on the road, would be 40 years old now, the two I own have lasted far better then the 80's cars I have had
Another great british pastime, the road works, iv'e travelled from the UK through france Belgium Luxembourg Switzerland and into Italy without seeing any of the roads being dug up,may be the british standard of workmanship isn't what it's cracked up to be.
![England, The Great North Road in 1939 [further enhanced]](/img/n.gif)
The cars of my childhood. At the time we had a 1966 Ford Taunus 20m (very rare in England), a 1970 Morris 1300 which had already started to rust, and my Dad had just got a K registered Cortina 1600L as a company car.
Didn't listen to the reporter! Just remembered all the wonderful vehicles.
Yes all those unreliable British cars
Fantastic, a roll call of cars and lorries from the 70's. Liked the Commer lorry and the Aston of course, plus there was a Ford Corsair.
Great film clip, nice one.
One interesting observation is that the "grockle" traffic is in fact 90% local if you look at the vehicle registrations! It is also worth noting that the then hated "grockle" has become the much treasured source of work and income for the South West who only now becomes a bit of a nuisance during August when arriving in massed numbers...but they still bring a wallet full of money!
My parents and I were those "grockles" from 1950 onwards!..so spot 1947 VW Sedan FTM 594 and it was me!
BBC fake news! Around same time as Panorama's Spaghetti tree April Fool joke? BBC always loved taking piss out of Licence payers. I don't watch so don't pay.
1:27 "There aren't as many railways as there used to be..." - the immediate knock on effect of having a transport minister who was directly involved with a tarmac company - we're suffering dearly for it now and we'll continue to do so!
Ernest Marples!
I didn't know that although not surprised.
iv got an 1100 bright red with only 56,000 miles!! its bright and shiny!, looks like new from a close distance! they are amazing to drive! like you are floating on a bed of air! it attracts massive attention!! certainly puts a smile on everyones face! i think a lot perished due to rust! i think mine survived due to being undersealed and waxoiled! they were way ahead of their time mechanically! if it wasnt due to the tin worm there would be many left!
An Austin 3 Litre and a Peugeot 204 within moments of one another - fabulous!
If there were more, cheaper trains and more coaches, and better local transport at the resorts, we wouldn't have all these problems.
I took my first and at the same time my last driving lesson in my dad's Austin 1800. A lovely spacious car.
I had forgotten how popular the old austin 1100/1300 were. I bet most of the cars in that film were maintained at home too, some people nowadays book them in to a garage to have such simple tasks done when in the 70s i remember freezing in the drive pumping the clutch pedal for my dad on his mini. Wish i could go back.
I remember sitting on "Hilly Head", Wellington on the A38 and mocking the Grockles and Emmets in the days before the M5 and the by-pass were built.
The traffic in this film was flowing much faster than it did through Wellington on those Bank Holidays.
Now I can look out of my kitchen window in Derbyshire and observe the entire M1 at a standstill most Fridays.
That's progress, I guess.
Ed shunt mocking the grockles eh, isn't that
Just typical or small minded cornishmen.
They are too stupid to realise that without
Tourists they would starve. I used to take my young family on holidays to the west country. Until I finally got cheesed of with
Being ripped off, by rude ignorant yokels.
I had a few excellent holidays in Dorset . Before realising that Spain offered better
Food, better weather, better service,
Better value for money, and nicer people.
The newest cars are L reg so it is probably Easter 1973. Don't think the M5 was built as far as Exeter at the time, so this must be the A38 between Taunton and Exeter.
At 2.53 that looks like Smithaleigh
Make that 2.23
The Cortina , Chrysler 180 and Hillman Hustler are all 1970 released cars....and there are few examples......I had estimated it was 1971 but it wouldn't surprise me if it was 1973...
i remember every sunday down the road there would be a couple of cars with the bonnet up or jacked up with a wheel off,then it would be a trip down the breakers with ya tool box to get a starter motior or something else you need.You always see cars round with odd colour door or a wing that had been blown in with a rattle can to cover the rust hole repair done the weekend before.
this reminds me of when I was 2. I was born in '72 but the cars seen here were all around in 74. So many Renault 6 around! A Saab 99, (my Dad had one) a pair of Ford Corsairs (I had one). I could name every single car in this clip, no problem!
whether it be California traffic in the 1950s or this, there is always at least one Beetle in traffic
That's because beetles cause the problem, damn germans
1:12 - White van shoving his way in. Some things don't change.
I like the brace of Ford Corsairs,,,,
I had one. Loved it.
legend has it that queue of cars is still going
Excellent. Clever and witty. Superb line regarding roadworks for the unsuspecting motorists... 'a veritable haven of enchantment '..... Remembering well, the Exeter bypass before the M5.
I remember the Exeter bypass too. My parents who grew up in Devon said it was a joke as soon as it opened, and that was before the war
Spotted a Hillman Avenger which was probably new out then around 1970 .probably on its way to pick John steed up for the tv ad..
Virtually every single vehicle is made in the UK in this footage
I saw Renaults, a Citroen, Simca, and Saab, but no Japanese Datsuns or Toyotas. The most common was the BMC 1100/1300 with at least ten, but I saw no Mk4 Zephyrs, Hillman Imps, BMC Farinas and 1800s, Rover and Triumph 2000s. The only Mini was a Traveller estate. The Mk2 Cortina looked very similar to the Hillman Hunter.
@@hjp1hjp22 I saw a Wolseley hornet (mini) and an Riley version of the 1800, I've forgotten what it's called
@@indiekiddrugpatrol3117 there was never a Riley version of the 1800.
@@1258-Eckhart correct I meant Wolseley don't know why I said Riley
Cool channel. Well done! We really loved it.
I lived in Dawlish, Devon around this time and come Summer our town was packed with the Foreigners from other parts of Britain especially the Strange Peoples from the Northern Regions who wore caps and carried Black Puddings around with them saying things like "Ebygum."
Yes the good times , other people from other countries are now taking over your hotels, no more British staying in them hotels during the summer now.
Wonderful snapsot of 70s motoring!!
Very well done to save it!!
this kind of footage is brillant! well done! its so intristing
@lndac02
Notice even from this video from 1972, foreign cars were starting to make an appearance. Ford and Rootes of this time were quite good, but British Leyland and Vauxhall were in decline and making some awful cars like the Marina and the FE Victor. By the mid seventies the Japanese invasion was in full swing and they were making cars that were not only very reliable and cheap but also well equipped with radios and sunroofs that were usually an option on European cars.
40 years later....and its still the same.....
Interesting to note that not one vehicle is following its predecessor three inches from the rear bumper. Those were the days.
Amen to that,brother.Personally,I'd love a nice Austin 1800/2.2,Princess,or maybe an Allegro...
Was hoping to see a Triumph 2000 but alas no, saw a shirtload of Austin 1100/1300s and Mark III Cortinas though!
I think the 1100/1300 was the British No.1 seller for most of the late '60s.
Not much to do on a modern car I suppose - oil and plugs every few years and the rest takes care of itself! (you have to pay the garage to reset the 'service light' though)
Probably the A38 between Taunton and Exeter before the M5 was built.
Much too wide for an Audi 100S Coupe. (which I remember as surprisingly common by the late '70s!)
The newest cars on here have L-suffix numbers which ran from 1st August '72 'til 31st July '73.. so I reckon it's mid '73 or Aug/Sep '72.
Can't be '71 though, unless they're time travellers!
;o)
Grockles in Devon......Piles in Cornwall.....they come down in bunches and are a pain in the ass! !
Come down in bunches, go red and are a pain in the ass!
They treat Devon and Cornwall like it's their own personal holiday resort
Ah progress, shut all the railways, build one motorway: result 21st century 6 1/2 hours from Exmouth to The West Midlands.
Why the hate against Japanese Cars?
dont get me wrong, I love seeing those British cars and I would give anything to make it as great as it was back in the 60s/70 and all those cars in this video were simply gorgeous
but I dont understand why the Japanese are blamed for the decline of the car industry
A strange mix of cars not typical for the UK as a whole in 1973. Few BMCs, no large Farinas and only 2 Minis and an over representation of Ford Escorts and Renaults. I think a lot of that is local traffic.
This film dates from 1973 onwards due to the registration marks on some of the cars, why's it in black-and-white?
Passed my driving test in one of these, 0:31 and 0:58 Renault 16TS back in 1979. Was a lovely car to drive, except my dad would never let me borrow it once I'd passed......
Also at 1.55 an Austin 3 Litre makes an appearance, this was supposed to be Austin's luxury car but bombed as the upper middle class buyers preferred Rovers and Jaguars. These are very rare now.
I expected to see a Marina, my pick would be at 1.53 the 3 litre, now that is a car worth having, least I know what most of them are ...still Great Britain I guess
They didn't do a 3 litre Marina. However a 1.8 TC two door still floats my boat.
Hold on, I see what you mean. My pick of the bunch is Morris/Austin 1300GT...... I want one now.
Bloody grockels!
What strikes me is how 90 percent of the cars on the road then were British, with just a smattering of Renaults and VWs and one Volvo. Not a Japanese car to be seen.
The modern equivilent seems to be any ford with Colour coded bumpers. There are stacks of cars round here that one week have a bumper held together with gaffer tape and the next the car turns up resplendant with its new but non colourmatching bumpers :)
that saab was light years ahead in design of other cars of the period
Brilliant piece of journalism, TONGUE IN CHEEK and Monty Python would be proud. August 1973 or 1974 I reckon.
Lots of road works going on to improve the A30 ?? or A303 ??
He should have started by saying 'Hello, Good evening, and welcome'
Great film. I used to break up these cars in the early '80s and banger races the BMC A60s
What larks
I had an Austin 3 litre in the early seventies,
A wonderful car but a bit thirsty.
Talk about going 'off piste', this reporter manages to go from talking about holiday traffic to grey squirrels! lol classic.
Can you imagine a reporter casually walking along the side of a road (with no pavement) now while talking about traffic!!!
Also, you can tell how old this is as he's talking about declining use of rail travel.....................well not now, not almost 50 years later.
That splitscreen Morris Minor would date to the early 50s if you noticed it! And most modern cars wouldnt last more than 10 years in daily use today!
firedup643 On the contrary, modern cars are much better built, rust far less due to the large-scale use of galvanised steel, and can be easily driven 120,000 miles without an engine overhaul. Not so in the 70s, especially with regard to BL and Rootes cars.
That was one of if not the only car from the 50s in this video, most cars today last 15-25 years
Even though Makaveli be still living, busters on the block be still tripping.
Hmmm.... hadn't spotted that before!
It looks to me like an Aston Martin DBS. The only other similar shape around was the Audi 100 Coupe but this looks just a bit too wide and fat-wheeled for one of them.
Oh, honestly, listen to this guy! Filming people getting away to the sunny beach for a nice weekend (enjoying FREEDOM in other words) and complaining about it like it's a major problem. What does he expect people to do, go back to London and stay there like good little sheep? Come on, Londoners, go enjoy the sun! Don't let these media types get in your way! Crank up that Austin and GO!
I think he's trying to be funny.
Oh how I miss those cars :(
They always went wrong,nothing but problems,😊
It's good to know that jumping red lights isn't just a modern day thing
I no wot you mean.A friends sister had a Rover P5 with all differant colour doors front wing and rear wing down one side after hitting a lamp post,i supose if someone done that now with a modern car the car would be just scapped.There was also them new panal places about so you would see cars with black front wings and silver coloured new seals and rear archs welded on or a white fiberglass front wing.Thanks for posting the clip anyway,great memorys,
Mainly British built cars. The odd Simca for some reason but absolutely no Japanese cars.
Roads are like this everywhere now,just taken us over an hour to travel 10 miles from Gloucester to Stroud,and that is not city roads.Roads closed, eternal traffic lights.
how come there are so many old fashioned cars still in devon?
They don't need as much salt on the roads as we do in the North East.
Hi how fab the cars look ali walsall west midlands england junction 10 m6 Walsall churckery
Look at all those collectors cars.Back then they were collected by scrapyards !
Brilliant piece of journalism, TONGUE IN CHEEK and Monty Python would be proud. August 1973 or 1974 I reckon.
Lots of road works going on to improve the A30 ?? or A303 ??
He should have started by saying 'Hello, Good evening, and welcome'
Great film. I used to break up these cars in the early '80s and banger races the BMC A60s Im a PLONKER, he mentions EASTER so its not August but APRIL 1973 or 1974
What larks
fantastic this they sure dont make cars like they use to to many bloody computers in cars now :(
bring back the good old days when driving was a joy :)
Call that traffic, when they're still moving ? It's far far worse everywhere, at all times of the year, day and night now !
this is HILARIOUS . grockles are a pain in the ass! lol. traffic in Braunton goin to Croyde is Grockle mad. I hate that they keep finding the back roads because they get half way down meet a car coming the other way and suddenly realise they can't reverse!
LOL very good and I enjoyed the cars too!
CZcams's only Austin 3-litre at 1:53 plus a Wolseley 18/85 at 3:10 - fine cars!
Judging by the cars, I reckon this is mid seventies.
my father bought a brand new l reg hillman avenger in 72,which decided to go on fire after a few months,the hilman hunter was a good car though in its day
Somebody could explain me if this guy is using the term grockle in a despective way?
@UKSazzy67 it's the Easter Bank Holiday 1973 (newest cars L-reg and re Easter the commentator says as much)^^
@boo66 looks like the car that roger moore used in the persuaders.
Aston Martin DBS.
@UK31337 most tv was in black and white its 1973 colour was just around the corner
wow they look like there flying along/ ty getting ove the bascle bridge in lowestoft england.
and a VW T2 bay camper at 0.27 :)
the car at 2:20 is definitely an aston martin not an audi 100s coupe. the body is angular at rear and as boo66 says much too wide for and audi coupe. Bothe were great cars......
Aston Martin DBS.
@lndac02 LOL, Very funny. Nearly fell off the chair! Lived there, what an experience.........
@wotasod
If you mean the Aston Martin.. It's definitely an Aston Martin!!
Strange to see no minis
1:06 Mini Countryman ... 3:01 Riley Elf (or maybe Wolseley Hornet)
I could sit buy the grass and watch them go by all day with my own little pick nik
Looks like an Aston Martin DBS
I always called them Emits not Grockles lol
the KL and M in the video are suffixes, not prefixes, these cars, if still on the road, would be 40 years old now, the two I own have lasted far better then the 80's cars I have had
That's happy motoring for you lol 😃
Very nice, but the wobble-cam made me feel sick! :(
where is this actual location? Is it near Kingsteignton?
it is never an Audi coupe in the 70s. It looks as if it is a DBS.
Does anyone recognise the locations filmed?
1:11, the car in white, I have one of them!
Triumph 1300 fwd
This looks like Monty Python. Nice side burns. Expect John Cleese to say something profound.
How about just driving pass in a German staff car, gesticulating wildly with his arms and raving at people? LOL!
Any body else remember this ? Seems a lifetime ago
That's because it WAS a lifetime ago.
Alan Baker , travelling Down to Cornwall in my dads Hillman Minx, A30, Staines always a nightmare ,
Ha Ha how true that was proper recycling, we were doing it long before the enviromentalists got on the bandwagon. I really miss those days.
What do folk in the South West call caravans?
Grockle shells! Geddit?
I dont what this bloke is gnna on about,he doesnt make sense...I spotted 2 Renault 16's 2 Renault 6 1 Renault 8 and a Peugeot 204. Nice!!!
Knees of Trowbridge!
1:06 MINI Clubman "legendary"
Mini Countryman
Thought Grockle was a Dorset word not a Devon one lol
Fawlty Towers
Who is this presenter, does anyone know?
No heath and safety bullshit on the road then the men working away with out flashing lights vests hard hats hahaha
and all that lovely lead in the air
Another great british pastime, the road works, iv'e travelled from the UK through france Belgium Luxembourg Switzerland and into Italy without seeing any of the roads being dug up,may be the british standard of workmanship isn't what it's cracked up to be.