Spridgets on Film

[JPSmit]

Well, since we seem to being doing TV too - How about CHiPs - Rally Round the Bank is the episode name

 

[HealeyRick]

Yikes, JP. That Midget should have got star billing with Ponch and Jon. It was in more car chase scenes than Frank Bullitt's Mustang. The bank robbers used every small car trick in the book and frankly, I was rooting for them. CHiPs stunt coordinator Paul Nuckles gets a tip o' the driving cap for this one (even though some of the ramp shots in the water control ravine were a little cheesy). Here's the rest of the chase scenes:

 

[HealeyRick]

While we're doing cop shows, Reed and Malloy drove by the same light blue Spridget time after time in the intro to Adam-12:

 

[JPSmit]

Not a TV show/movie - but am watching this just now - 1958 Alpine Rally. Sponsored by Standard Triumph - but, in the 4th, 8th, 13th, 17th, 18th, 20:41, 22:40, 24:11, 24:23, 24:42, 26:32, (check the bodywork!) minutes you see Bugeyes - one driven by John Sprinzel

 

[SaxMan]

Loved Adam-12 as a kid! I'm thinking that light blue Spridget may be a Datsun roadster, though.

 

[HealeyRick]

A Home Of Your Own -"A 1964 “wordless” but noisy film that’s hilarious from start to finish. It’s a satirical look at British builders. A brick-by-brick account of the building a young couple’s dream house. From the day when the site is first selected, to the day – several years and children later – when the couple finally move in."

 

[HealeyRick]

Not a TV show/movie - but am watching this just now - 1958 Alpine Rally. Sponsored by Standard Triumph - but, in the 4th, 8th, 13th, 17th, 18th, 20:41, 22:40, 24:11, 24:23, 24:42, 26:32, (check the bodywork!) minutes you see Bugeyes - one driven by John Sprinzel

Nice. Another great one is "Mountain Legend" a 1965 Castrol film about the Targa Florio. Lots of big Healey works rally cars and special Sprites and Midgets. Can't embed it, but here's a link to the full movie: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xlkm60_targa-florio-1965-mountain-legend_auto

 

[HealeyRick]

Loved Adam-12 as a kid! I'm thinking that light blue Spridget may be a Datsun roadster, though.

I'm sticking with the Spridget ID. The Datsun roadster has three vertical lights in the taillight configuration, has a taller and more narrower convertible top and would look bigger in comparison to the other cars parked around it. What does everyone else think?

 

[Mickey Richaud]

I'm sticking with the Spridget ID. The Datsun roadster has three vertical lights in the taillight configuration, has a taller and more narrower convertible top and would look bigger in comparison to the other cars parked around it. What does everyone else think?

Spridget. The Datsun is larger and not quite as square-bodied. The taillights on that car are misleading, as they do resemble the Datsun's.

 

[HealeyRick]

"Look at Life was a regular British series of short documentary films of which over 500 were produced between 1959 and 1969 by the Special Features Division of the Rank Organisation for screening in their Odeon and Gaumont cinemas. The films always preceded the main feature film that was being shown in the cinema that week. It replaced the circuit’s newsreel, Universal News, which had become increasingly irrelevant in the face of more immediate news media, particularly on television with the launch of ITN on the Independent Television service, which began broadcasting in parts of the United Kingdom in 1955"

Wonder if the Sprite is heading off to the Stelvio Pass shown near the end?

 

[nomad]

This is all interesting but I especially would like to thank JP for posting the footage of the Alpine Rallye. That footage along with the Shell coverage I never knew existed. Really fun to watch many of the rallye greats of that era and really fun to watch Sprinzel hanging it out on just about every corner!

Kurt.

 

[HealeyRick]

Probably the most famous TV Sprite of all was detective Harry O's car whose trips to the shop were a running joke:

Not too many film clips of the car available.

Apparently it could be tough to get into:

Harry's Sprite was listed for sale in 2007 for $2,000.

 

[SaxMan]

Even without a spare tire, I don't think you could stuff a body into the trunk of a Sprite.

 

[JPSmit]

This is all interesting but I especially would like to thank JP for posting the footage of the Alpine Rallye. That footage along with the Shell coverage I never knew existed. Really fun to watch many of the rallye greats of that era and really fun to watch Sprinzel hanging it out on just about every corner!

Kurt.

thanks Kurt. Found this tonight. Amazing because it is in colour. And, watch for the "unfinished sprite" job. These roads are terrifying!

 

[JPSmit]

Even without a spare tire, I don't think you could stuff a body into the trunk of a Sprite.

Of course you can with bricks!

3. WITHOUT A WINDSHIELD


When Austrian lathe operator Heinz Meixner pulled up to Checkpoint Charlie on May 5, 1963, something must have seemed odd about his red Austin Healy Sprite convertible. Namely, it was missing its windshield. (A closer inspection would also have revealed that his mother was hiding in the trunk.) When the East German guard directed Meixner to pull over to a customs shed, Meixner instead floored the accelerator and ducked. His tiny car slipped right under the three-foot-high barrier dividing the East from the West.

 

[HealeyRick]

When Austrian lathe operator Heinz Meixner pulled up to Checkpoint Charlie on May 5, 1963, something must have seemed odd about his red Austin Healy Sprite convertible. Namely, it was missing its windshield. (A closer inspection would also have revealed that his mother was hiding in the trunk.) When the East German guard directed Meixner to pull over to a customs shed, Meixner instead floored the accelerator and ducked. His tiny car slipped right under the three-foot-high barrier dividing the East from the West.

Actually, Heinz was pretty smart. His fiancee was behind him and his future Mother-in-law was in the trunk. If the East German border guards opened up with their machine guns as he sped past ... guess who was going to get it."

"WEST BERLIN, West Germany — Just after midnight on May 5, 1963, a red Austin Healey Sprite approached the barrier on the eastern side of the Berlin Wall at Checkpoint Charlie. The top of the sports car was down, the windshield was missing, and at the wheel was Heinz Meixner, 20, an Austrian lathe operator.

He showed his passport to the East German guard, who waved him on to the customs shed. But instead of stopping for inspection, Meixner gunned the engine, skidded around the slalom course of barriers and--ducking his head--whizzed blindly under the three-foot-high steel-lift barrier and into West Berlin
Behind the seat was his East German fiancee, Margarete Thurau, and in the trunk her 48-year-old mother."

Heinz's Sprite was a rental car. It wasn't the last time it would be used in a dash to freedom:


"The exploit, and the Sprite, received international publicity. Several months later Norbert Konrad tried the same stunt. Although born in Germany, Konrad had an Argentine passport. He had fallen in love with an East German woman, Helga Werner, but the authorities refused permission for her to emigrate. Although concerned that the guards at Checkpoint Charlie might be particularly suspicious of sports cars, Konrad rented an Austin-Healey Sprite at a West Berlin agency.

As Helga huddled in the trunk, Konrad drove toward the East Berlin checkpoint. En route, an East Berlin policeman stopped him; Konrad was certain he had been discovered. He relaxed when the policeman pointed to a loose fitting on the exhaust pipe and told him to have it repaired. Konrad gladly fixed it, then resumed his drive.

At the checkpoint Konrad showed his passport, and the guard directed him to the customs office. Instead, Konrad stepped on the gas, raced for the barrier, ducked his head under the 37 1/2-inch-high horizontal pole and skidded into West Berlin. Konrad later returned the car to the rental agency and was incredulous when he learned it was the same vehicle Heinz Meixner had used. Several weeks later Konrad and Werner were married.

The trick worked twice, but no more. To prevent a third Sprite escape, the East Germans embedded steel bars in the concrete beneath the barrier.

 

[SaxMan]

I stand corrected :fat:

Wonder what happened to that particular Sprite? It would certainly be a pretty amazing piece of Cold War memorabilia.

 

[HealeyRick]

There's not much Sprite stuff other than the Bugeye in the opening scene of the Beatles' "Magical Mystery Tour". But the following marathon scene is worth a watch, too.

The cars in the marathon included a Vanden Plas Princess Limo purchased by the Beatles for the film. The Mini has an interesting history:

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"The Mini, an Austin Cooper 'S', LGF 695D, was built for George Harrison by Harold Radford (Coachbuilder) Ltd in late 1965 as a Radford Mini de Ville and painted in Metallic Black.
In early 1967, the car was repainted and the psychedelic pictures were added using a book, Tantrum Art, for inspiration. [/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]At the same time Harrison also had the wall of his house painted in the same style, which did not go down very well with his neighbours...
The Mini was used in the film 'Magical Mystery Tour', which was screened by the BBC on the 26th December 1967 in black and white, then again in colour in January 1968. Shortly after the film the Mini was given to Eric Clapton from whom Harrison got it back in the 1970's. Mike (of Radford/Mini de Ville Register) sent a letter to George Harrison about his Minis and he got a reply saying he could not provide him with any information though a few months later, in June 1998, the Mini appeared at the 'Goodwood Festival of Speed' and was still owned by George Harrison. Recently, the Mini turned up at the 2008 Chelsea Flower Show as an exhibit (part of a 'George Harrison Garden'). In 2009, it also featured shortly in a BMW-ad with Olivia Harrison.[/FONT]"

The Iso Grifo was owned by famed British motorcycle champion and Formula 1 driver Mike "Mike the Bike" Hailwood who subsequently crashed it into a water buffalo in South Africa.

It was later fully restored and sold at Coys of London in 2011 for $267,000.

 

[HealeyRick]

The character Åsa-Nisse, literally Nils on the Ridge or Ridge-Nisse, is a somewhat elderly man living with his wife Eulalia on a farm in the countryside village of Knohult in Småland. To the dismay of his wife, Åsa-Nisse never really seems to produce an honest days work, and instead his activities seem to focus on various antics where he is accompanied by his friend and side-kick Klabbarparn. One of their favourite activities is poaching, while managing to stay one step ahead of the law, personified by the local policeman. Carl-Axel Elfving plays the Bugeye driving Swedish-American who is visitng to take pictures. While Åsa-Nisse was always popular among movie-goers (Spawning 19 sequels is no small feat), the movies have always been panned by critics both then and now. Some even see it as a low point in Swedish cinema that works as a stark contrast to Ingmar Bergman's work of the same period

 

[HealeyRick]

So you think these guys were the cutting edge of cop cool with their high-tech phone in a fancy sports car?

Nah, it had all been done before with a Midget in "Der unheimliche Mönch" ("The Sinister Monk") a 1965 German murder mystery. The setting is a girls' school where a hooded killer, "the Monk," lashes his victims to death with a whip. Scotland Yard tries to track him down, but more slayings occur before they can find the killer.

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