San Clemente, Calif., Feb 10, 2018 – Wheeler Dealers, the wildly popular British television series, now produced here in the U.S. by Velocity Channel, dropped by Cars & Coffee in San Clemente today to film a segment for an upcoming episode.
In this episode, set to air April 24, co-star Mike Brewer buys and flips a 2004 MC40, MINI’s 40th anniversary commemorative edition of Paddy Hopkirk’s Monte Carlo MINI Cooper S. The show’s producer, Sean Winograd, invited SCMM members via Facebook to have their MINIs appear in the background during the shoot. Many SCMM members turned out for the filming, which coincided with the club’s Orange County Second Saturday of the Month Breakfast event at Ruby’s Diner.
“He was an absolute delight and a funny guy,” says SCMM Treasurer Nancy Homer of Brewer, who posed with her in front of MiniFuzz, Homer’s Classic Mini. “He comes in immediately wanting hugs from everyone.”
Brewer’s persona on screen is just a normal guy, and that’s him. “I’m the most normal fellow you’ve ever met,” Brewer was quoted saying in a Forbes interview in 2017.
In the show, Brewer, 53, is a London-born car dealer that buys “classic” cars in need of repair for new co-star mechanic Ant Anstead to bring them back to their former glory.
For long-time fans of Wheeler Dealers, now in its 14th season, the departure of the show’s original mechanic for 13 seasons, Edd China, has been difficult, and probably most difficult for Brewer, who has endured harsh public criticism for not sticking with his former co-star.
China abruptly left and posted a YouTube video on March 21, 2017, explaining his reason for leaving the popular show, which he felt he needed to do in order to maintain his integrity. He claimed the producers wanted to reduce the mechanical sequences in the show and thus save production costs, something Brewer disputed in the Forbes interview.
“If you watch the show, you’ll see nothing changed. There’s more mechanics than ever, and that’s not because of what Edd said. That’s because nobody ever asked to cut the mechanic’s sequences,” said Brewer.
The 38-year-old Anstead, also of England, is a life-long car enthusiast and Brewer’s first choice for China’s replacement.
Be sure to watch Wheeler Dealers on April 24, and look for familiar MINIs in the scene.
Nicely written , Jimmy Olsen !!
So awesome! ~Angelica