This was made explicit in the programme's title, which evoked the 1960s fascination with fast cars, jet planes and high-speed travel, but also the use of "gear" to describe fashionable Carnaby Street clothes and the 1960s Liverpool term "fab gear", popularised by the Beatles as an expression of approval.
The programme comprised a mixture of records and live sessions, was introduced by Brian Matthew, and featured many popular guests such as Jimi Hendrix, Free, The Beatles, Cream, early Fleetwood Mac, The Who, Pink Floyd, Dusty Springfield, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, The Kinks and Manfred Mann.
The winning entry had been submitted by a young woman called Susan Warne, who attended the first recording and was interviewed on the programme.
It ended when the BBC, facing a serious financial crisis, was forced to make cutbacks in the Radio One schedules; most of the evening programmes of "progressive music" were scrapped.
The final Top Gear episode was broadcast on 25 September 1975; it was composed mostly of sessions by artists who had become famous after appearing on Top Gear, such as T. Rex, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Randy Newman, and Bob Marley & The Wailers.