Works Rally Mini arrives by air.........

[mab01uk]

Quote:
This piece of video footage was taken from a VHS cassette supplied to me by a work colleague to convert to DVD. As he knew I was a classic mini nut he had mentioned that his wife had footage that her dad had taken in the mid to late 60s of Paddy Hopkirks mini coming off an aircraft their own car was transported on (apparently it was parked next to the works mini). As you can well imagine, home movie footage was not widely accessable to the common folk back in the 60s so, although the footage is limited in length as this was cropped from 4 hours worth of content, it is a real gem now available for us all to see. This has never been seen before in the public domain.
Link:
http://www.dcmoc.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=799

[kariya]

mab01uk,
It was very interesting for me.thanks for sharing.
cheers,
kariya

[austinisuseless]

brilliant, almost unbelievable, clip. A great find.

[austinisuseless]

General youtube clip, if anyone wants to post it - I think is quite interesting.

The youtube clip,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMZzjBs4avw

[austinisuseless]

The '67 Monte Carlo winner car, no doubt.

[LMM76C]

The '67 Monte Carlo winner car, no doubt.

Please tell us why you would think that.

[Ronnie]

The '67 Monte Carlo winner car, no doubt.

Please tell us why you would think that.

It is not 1967 (winner). That had yellow squares on the door.

[LMM76C]

I was aware of that. I was just interested as to why someone might think it was.

The film is clearly summer (not least from the cabin crew uniforms!). The original poster says it was identified at the time as a Hopkirk car (presumably from the name on the wing, as there wouldn't be anything else for a casual observer to tell it was). It's arriving at Basle, not departing. It's a 66 event - no roof light as in 65 and appears to be steel wheels rather than Minilites, so not 67.
Only possible events (ie. ones in the general part of Europe and that Hopkirk started) would seem to be Austrian Alpine, Geneva, German (which actually started in San Martino di Castroza that year?) or Alpine. Geneva seems best bet? (although British United Carvair service did serv Geneva as well as Basle, day of week may not have been suitable?).
Still looks a bit like a model to me though...

[COOPERCO]

In the '60's it was quite common for cars to be moved by air to France. Even some private entry cars went this way, here's ours at Lydd en-route....somewhere!

[kariya]

Swissair Convair CV440-11(Registration:HB-IMF)
Unfortunately, it crashed into mountain hidden by clouds on 10 February 1967. Four crew died.
The taking a picture day is a hypothesis of the same.
Therefore it is before in the autumn of 66 from the appearance and clothes of the climate.
In 67 the theory is impossible.

And we can see an additional lamp at a high position.

[LMM76C]

And we can see an additional lamp at a high position.

Don't think so. The roof is silouetted against the aircraft door and there doesn't seem to be anything on it. It seems just possible to briefly make out the crew names and BMC "Safety Fast" stickers on the wing - the only markings attached to works Minis in most events (1000 Lakes and Safari only exceptions?).

[formulaphoto]

Do we know if the Mini was actually delivered at Basel airport? Perhaps it got loaded back into the plane after the dark-coloured car was loaded? Hmmm... Does seem to be quite a few people watching though, so the arrival must have been a bit of an "event".

[LMM76C]

Do we know if the Mini was actually delivered at Basel airport? Perhaps it got loaded back into the plane.

That could fit if the BU schedule was Geneva via Basel rather than separate flights. Lightest car carried at the front of the aircraft is also logical.

[austinisuseless]

The '67 Monte Carlo winner car, no doubt.

Please tell us why you would think that.

Because I am a total romantic, and want people to tell me different.

I was coming out with the first thing I could think of to get people going. Did it show?