Wheeler Dealers star Mike Brewer Talks BMW M3 Memories
Road & Race covers the auto industry veteran’s path to becoming a television mainstay.
Capturing the excitement of car ownership is challenging. Top Gear and Wheeler Dealers succeed because they developed compelling content for car guys and neophytes alike. The two shows also host charismatic individuals. That’s probably why the shows are still around.
Wheeler Dealers veteran Mike Brewer recently sat down with Road and Race for a wide-ranging interview. The conversation covered a variety of topics such as Brewer’s life story and how a Wheeler Dealers episode becomes a reality. He also offered some opinions on cars he’s featured on the show.
Past and Present
Brewer has been a fixture on British and American television for quite some time. A man with decades of experience probably has a lot of great stories to tell. There’s some good news on that front. “I’ve done most things that a boy would want to do in their lives other than flying to space. But I have been invited by NASA next month to go and drive the Mars rover, so I’m almost there as well,” quipped Brewer. He talked about the path that led him to being a gear head. At age 10, his dad recruited him to work with him in his shop and since then it’s been his passion. We imagine his early experiences as a mechanic are worth a few chapters in his potential book.
As for the show that made him a household name in the car community, Brewer had some interesting things to say about how an episode of Wheeler Dealers comes together. His team only has ten days to complete one restoration. That’s ruled out more troublesome cars. Brewer himself creates the lists of vehicles that serve as potential candidates for an episode. The list gets refined over what he thinks will resonate with the community. From there they break down exactly how they’ll tackle and cover the repairs for the audience. “Are they realistic? Can we do them? Can we do them in the time we make the show? And that’s how basically the show gets written,” says Brewer.
Hot Takes
Brewer also detailed how he feels about certain models and how his perception of them changed over time. The BMW E46 M3 captured his attention because it can be easily modified into a stick shift. “Not a lot of people know that laying underneath all that nonsense is a fully-fledged six-speed manual gearbox,” says Brewer. By contrast, he soured on the AMC Pacer once he and former co-host, Edd China, decided to wrap it in a funky design that didn’t quite work out. He initially disliked the DeLorean but warmed up to it once he purchased one. Brewer also hated the Beetle but China wore him down and now he loves them.
Wheeler Dealers contributed to countless individuals becoming motorheads. Brewer remains committed to the success of the long-running series and is not slowing down anytime soon. His decades-long career is truly impressive and we hope his theoretical autobiography becomes a reality. The interview is long but contains a lot of interesting tidbits about the show and Brewer’s outlook on the future. We definitely recommend you watch it.
You must be logged in to post a comment.