In 2018 I wrote about the star prizes in Bullseye, the ITV darts-related gameshow in which contestants might win an overseas holiday, a selection of wonderfully awful clothes or perhaps even a caravan. Better still, the star prize could be a speedboat – or a car, exemplified by James Sinclair’s 1989 Fiat Panda 750L.
The glitz and glamour of the seminal TV show and the car’s relative popularity notwithstanding, it’s sobering to note that there are only 10 such cars still on the road in the UK.
The show commenced in 1981 under the auspices of ATV, which then held the independent television franchise for the West Midlands. From 1982 to 1995 Bullseye was a staple of the Central Television station, hosted by genial comedian Jim Bowen.
Re-watching Bullseye is a surreal experience, akin to being trapped in a disused Mr Byrite discount clothing outlet. Some myths were immediately dispelled: Bowen, an immensely likeable host, never actually said “Super, smashing, great” (his catchphrase of legend) and had a considerable rapport with the guests. The general knowledge questions could be demanding, even if Bowen did once ask: “In which city of the United States was John F. Kennedy assassinated in Dallas, Texas?”
A select number of contestants played for “Bully’s Special Prize” – a wardrobe of outfits that you would only ever wear after dark, or even in a speedboat. Bowen reflected: “Our director, a man called Peter Harris, scouted around to try and get the best possible deals for prizes and he managed to find a speedboat manufacturer called Fletcher, based in Walsall. He managed to broker a deal where he could get them cheaper and we could save a bit of money. It was a nice prize, even though it wasn’t very good if you lived in Wolverhampton.”
Best of all, the Special Prize could be a car, while the rewards for the losers were a “Bendy Bully” doll, a set of darts, a tankard and their “bus fare home”. All the prize cars were resolutely downmarket; a Morris Ital was an early jackpot. More expensive cars were out of the question since the Independent Broadcasting Authority, ITV’s controlling body, limited the value of gameshow prizes for much of Bullseye’s existence.
Bowen observed: “I think the budget was about £7,000 for the prizes, but that was everything. That was all the prizes around the board as well as the Star Prize.” Potential contestants had to join a five-year waiting list to have a chance of winning something as exciting as the diminutive Fiat, or at least a hostess trolley. “You’ll be the hostess with the mostest!” promised the announcer before he proclaimed the virtues of “Every youngster’s dream – a BMX bike!”
And a Panda 750L, worth £4,479.84 in 1989, was well worth taking part in Bullseye. Fiat first displayed it to the press in December 1979 and its designer Giorgetto Giugiaro stated: “I tried to bring into this car the spirit of military machinery, especially helicopters, that means a light, rational, built-for-purpose vehicle.”
This newspaper found the Panda a “most significant small car” and the 1986 facelift enhanced its appeal without negating the formula. Sinclair’s example is an entry-level 750L, with all its trademark idiosyncrasies, from the flat windscreen to a rear seat resembling a garden hammock. It joined his fleet in 2022; we have previously featured his Lancia Beta 2000 Berlina, while the line-up also includes a Wolseley 1300, a Triumph 2000 Mk2 and a Renault 10.
When Sinclair acquired the Fiat, he noticed its past as a former Bullseye jackpot recorded in its official history. “There was an invoice to Central Television. The Panda had covered only 25,000 miles from new, but at one point in its life languished in a skip,” he said.
Its vendor, Fiat expert Matty Crisell, recalls: “It had a seized release arm and I fixed that, as well as repairing the door as it was a bit bashed in. I also repainted the Panda and gave it a good clean up inside.”
Sinclair finds the Panda “surprisingly lively” despite its engine displacing only 769cc, while its television stardom is an additional bonus. Cars such as his Fiat added to the homespun appeal of Bullseye. This, after all, was the programme that coped with a malfunctioning “S” on the illuminated studio logo by positioning a large member of the audience in front of it. And seating him on two telephone directories...
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