Nearly half-my-life ago, I went on the Internet and found this: a large, somewhat oafish man trying and failing to destroy a Toyota Hilux. I don’t remember where or how, but it led me to a certain motoring show called Top Gear, and I became instantly hooked. And for the following two decades, I followed the exploits of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May. And so, after watching the very last episode of their Amazon Prime Video show The Grand Tour, I can’t help but mourn a little.

In the early 2000s, Top Gear quickly became part of my life, despite the fact that the show did not air in the Philippines. It was frustrating trying to find ways to watch it, especially in the early days of YouTube. But watch it I did—from the very first season of its second incarnation with Jeremy, Richard, and Jason Dawe (I swear I didn’t even need to look that name up), until its last. The show was different to anything I had seen before. Early Top Gear added a big dose of fun and irreverence with some genuine automotive news and “consumer advice,” as the guys would say.

But it wasn’t until its second season—when James May was introduced as Jason’s replacement—that the show really hit its stride. The new trio’s genuine passion for cars, combined with their creativity and wit, made Top Gear must-see TV for petrolheads. They had these bits for episodes that had previously been unheard of—of which they had various permutations of. They bought used cars on a budget (like old Italian supercars) to see which was the best. They attempted to test which was faster—some sort of supercar (like a Nissan GT-R) or some form of public transport (like the Shinkansen). They even did insane modifications to cars just to accomplish even more insane feats (like converting a pickup into a boat to cross the English Channel).

But perhaps the most memorable thing the three presenters did was go on massive road trips, starting with an unprecedented drive from Resolute, Canada, to the North Pole. This drive, with Clarkson and May drinking gin and tonic while traversing an obstacle-filled frozen ocean in a modified pickup truck, culminated in the two becoming the first people to drive to the 90th Parallel North. They followed this up with a trip across Botswana, exploring the African wilderness in a Lancia, a Merc and an Opel Kadett named Oliver. Succeeding adventures took them across nearly every continent, and saw them do incredible things over gorgeous terrain.

By this time, the Orangutan, the Hamster, and Captain Slow had become the most recognizable motoring personalities in the world.

Their continued love of the internal-combustion engine certainly defies the conventional logic of a world trying to electrify. Perhaps the world is deciding that they no longer have a place, and that to me is a sad thing

Suddenly and without warning in March 2015, however, the show was done. After an incident between Jeremy and a BBC producer, Top Gear as we had known it ended. And fans like me were heartbroken…until Amazon came in and gave Jeremy, Richard and James a new platform to continue their hijinks in the form of The Grand Tour.

The highlights were plenty. Chills went down my spine watching the first episode, as the three made an entrance in different colored Mustangs. And the Hypercar Trinity review—the Ferrari LaFerrari, the Porsche 918, and the McLaren P1—was truly epic. But while that old passion and chemistry were still there, the show became somewhat stale over time. They rehashed their old activities like the used-car contests and the outlandish modifications. Even their big road-trip adventures were starting to feel less inspired.

The three shot fewer and fewer TGT episodes per year, while exploring their other passions apart from the automotive space and apart from each other. Jeremy started a farm. Richard put up a car restoration business. James went traveling the world while making gin. And while their Drive Tribe YouTube channel continues to be something of a continuation of sorts of their partnership, the writing was on the wall that their time as a trio was coming to an end.

In an interview with The Times, Clarkson admitted that they had run out of things to do. “I’ve driven cars higher than anyone else and further north than anyone else,” he said. “We’ve done everything you can do with a car. When we had meetings about what to do next, people just threw their arms in the air.”

In the final few minutes of the last episode, you could see the wistfulness in the faces of Jeremy, Richard and James. But oddly enough, there was also a sense of relief and even joy on their countenances. They said it a few times over the course of that last show that they could not have believed they had gone on for as long as they had. And I suppose it makes sense: If you’ve done something at such a high level for so long, with expectations constantly sky-high, there has to be a point where you say it’s time for a change. Or even an ending.

With their leaving the small screen also goes an era that, to be fair, has had its share of controversy. There are those who have criticized their brand humor as offensive, and there is some truth to that. And their continued love of the internal-combustion engine certainly defies the conventional logic of a world trying to electrify. Perhaps the world is deciding that they no longer have a place, and that to me is a sad thing. It cannot be denied that their contribution to the automotive space has been colossal. They have inspired a generation of car enthusiasts and helped create another one, thanks to their two-decade-plus run on television.

And so from someone who has seen quite literally every single production the three have put out together, I have a simple message:

Thank you, James May, for doing things properly before having to mutter ‘oh cock’ when it didn’t go according to plan. Thank you, Richard Hammond, for being a ‘driving god’ when handling an incredible car (and sometimes crashing it). And thank you, Jeremy Clarkson, for every time your genius had no end, and every time you bellowed ‘POWER’ while your right foot was glued to the floor. Thank you for being perhaps the greatest automotive personalities…in the world.

NOTE: Apologies, the author must not have been familiar with the fact that Top Gear was locally shown via Studio 23 and cable TV, as he also lived in the US when he was younger.