How about the changes in Barry?

[Mean Uncle Bob]

I'd kind of noticed it before, but watching from the beginning (as much as possible) almost continuously, I really noticed a change in Barry. In the earlier episodes he seems to be close to and looks up to Wesley as well as working on cars with him. When he returns he's terribly worried about Wesley getting near the new car because he thinks Wesley can only work on old bangers and acts as though he's never worn overalls or gotten greasy. I thought the prior relationship was kind of neat and miss it a bit in later episodes.

Of course it does seem that Wesley became a bit more of a cowboy too.

 

[Adrian Morris]

I think it is because Barry had 'old bangers' early on and as the series went on he got better and better cars. Wesley was of that generation that working on your car as a 'backyard mechanic' was alright as there were no electronic components back then in cars.

 

[RickAns]

You are right that there is a change in Barry. I remember when Barry used to carry on about how he thought it sounded like a wheel bearing was going bad. He had Glenda crawling all over the car listening for it. I do understand Barry not wanting Wesley to work on his new car while not minding it with his old car.

I would have liked it if Barry and Wesley had worked on more things together. Get Barry a little more adventurist in getting his hands dirty. He and Wesley could have built some great inventions together.

 

[barmpot]

I noticed that as the series progressed his cars got newer and newer, I put it down to promotion in the building society.

 

[Sarkus]

The changeover specifically occurs in "How to Create a Monster." Barry and Glenda have a (nearly) new car and Barry doesn't want Edie to know because he's afraid Wesley will want to tinker with it. He specifically says that Wesley is made for old junkers, not new cars. At the end he agrees to reveal the car, but there are several episodes after that where Wesley screws up the car with his "fixes."

 

[Adanor]

Never mind the cars, what about the golf! Of course this was after Wesley "left" and they had to give Barry someone to play off of. So enter the golf captain.

 

[Roger]

His first car was a rusty Austin 1800 and his last car was a new Citroen C3.

 

[Mean Uncle Bob]

But the relationship between Wesley and Barry was a lot closer in the early episodes. And Barry dug in there wearing his own obviously well used coveralls.