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Villain - Classic film with 1970's London and lots of early Mk1 Mini's and other classic cars of the time throughout.......only £3.99 on DVD, this was released in 1971 and is by the same writers of the Sweeney TV series..........
'Villain' starring Richard Burton whose character is based on Ronnie Kray. The core of the action scenes take place during the Blagging' with some violent scenes that were pretty rare on screen at that time.The backdrop is a delight.....1970's London looking like you can only remember, with great old motors lining the streets.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067952/

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Villain-DVD-.../dp/B000RWDY72

Watch out for the Black Radford Mk2 Mini Cooper S with Wickerwork side panels and wind up windows during the opening film titles!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRcKuaJ5 ... re=related

The robbery sequence filmed in Bracknell......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtscBjNx ... re=related


Then 'Robbery' starring Stanley Baker is another good classic 1960's film based on the Great Train Robbery, now on DVD, with loads of early Mk1 Mini's, Coopers and even a Mini Pickup is featured, produced by Michael Deeley also famous for the Italian Job. Here is the famous Jaguar car chase:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1K-GT-_g ... r_embedded

Watch out for the Black Radford Mk2 Mini Cooper S with Wickerwork side panels and wind up windows during the opening film titles!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRcKuaJ5 ... re=related

The black MK2 Cooper 'S' (VLX31G) with Wickerwork in the fiim is a John Sprinzel car not a Radford. The car was owned by the films Co producer 'JAY KANTER' from new, I am the second owner of this car (26years) and still have it.

Len.

speedwheel wrote:The black MK2 Cooper 'S' (VLX31G) with Wickerwork in the fiim is a John Sprinzel car not a Radford. The car was owned by the films Co producer 'JAY KANTER' from new, I am the second owner of this car (26years) and still have it.

Len.

Excellent news, glad it has survived to the present day! (sorry for calling it a Radford, I should have said 'Radford style').

mab01uk
where do you find all this ???

There's a great Moke sequence in an early Michael Winner film "The Jokers".

In most Sweeney episodes, there's always a scene where George is chatting up his snout at the scrapyard owner's blag and in the backgrounds you can see hundreds of Mk1s stacked up one on top of each other

Here is a short film from the archive's with a 1960 ? in it. The car isn't on Swansea's records but you might know better.


http://ssa.nls.uk/film.cfm?fid=2212&sea ... _fuzzy=yes

The 'groovy' swing­ing six­ties short film ad­ver­tis­ing Dun­lop SP Sport ra­di­al tyres with a Mk2 Mi­ni Coop­er S driving around Europe.......
Vive Le Sport:
http://www.myspace.com/video/vid/59813150

http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_244518-Aus ... -1968.html

speedwheel wrote:Watch out for the Black Radford Mk2 Mini Cooper S with Wickerwork side panels and wind up windows during the opening film titles!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRcKuaJ5 ... re=related

The black MK2 Cooper 'S' (VLX31G) with Wickerwork in the fiim is a John Sprinzel car not a Radford. The car was owned by the films Co producer 'JAY KANTER' from new, I am the second owner of this car (26years) and still have it.

Len.

...very nice and super rare.. u have the same mk 2 tilling window conversion as on mine.....its noticable some were painted in the body colours and others when fitted were left in the bare metal....still its yet another rare pic of only a handfull of cars that i have seen with this aftermarket conv... so i can safely say that at least 3 still exist today..???!!!!.....do you ever attend mini shows ??? foxy52

speedwheel wrote:Watch out for the Black Radford Mk2 Mini Cooper S with Wickerwork side panels and wind up windows during the opening film titles!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRcKuaJ5 ... re=related

The black MK2 Cooper 'S' (VLX31G) with Wickerwork in the fiim is a John Sprinzel car not a Radford. The car was owned by the films Co producer 'JAY KANTER' from new, I am the second owner of this car (26years) and still have it.

Len.

...len, oox 333g and my car smo 666g have the same conversion with the internal wooden door cappings and tinted glass ,though you have a full sunroof as opposed to a short one,i presume its a britax weathershield ?..most if not all of these conv appear on mk 2 s types....do u have any other mods on the car internally or externally... ?? tks foxy52

Here's 'VLX'......



and a short piece about Sprinzel 'coachbuidling'.......

Pete wrote:Here's 'VLX'......



and a short piece about Sprinzel 'coachbuidling'.......

...nice one pete,.. u produce some wonderfull pics/stuff for the club mag,.. absol brill,... happy new year foxy52

Glad to see VLX 31G is still with us, with Villain being my favourite film I've often wondered what happened to it. It's a shame it's appearence in the film is all too brief. Sadly, the Rover P5B Coupe HOX 802H is long gone (this was also used in The Persuaders), but another car seen in the film does survive, although it's only seen parked up in the street outside Ian McShanes' flat near the end, it's a blue Mk2 Cortina reg'd XPH 563G, which a mate of mine on The Sweeney forum saw at a Ford show a while back. (Going back to the OP for a mo - Villain was written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais and not the writers of The Sweeney!).

It's been a long while since I've been able to log onto the forum (this is the first time I've able to log in successfully for ages) but several cars have come and gone in the meantime, right now I've settled on a late '68 Mk2 S which sat in Stewart & Ardern's Acton showroom until April '69, and it's currently about half way through a partial resto, originally it was Island Blue & Snowberry White, but I'm ringing the changes a bit and painting it the same dark blue colour as John Hammel's W&P Mk2 S, as it's probably the nearest I'll ever get to having a pukka '60s coachbuilt job! The changes will only be cosmetic though, all the running gear and trim is bog standard although it has a few nice period extras, and it should look the part with it's Dunlop D1s and Benelite grille

Happy New Year all

Nidge.

spot on nidge, jh,s car the w/p mk 2 s is a great looking car with nice touches from the period it was built...it will be nice to see some pics posted of yr cars resto..d1,s tinted glass and driving lights in the grille as on mine look period and good on mk 2 coopers and s types..... happy new year foxy52

These are the extras that was fitted from new to VLX 31G this is from its original sale invoice from John Sprinzel Limited Lancaster Mews London..

Date of invoice 9/8/1968

Morris Cooper 'S' 1275 MK2

Body and Colour Black

Reclining front seats £12.10s. seat belts £8.10s. repainting interior&exterior black £70.
Goldie Sun Roof and Deflector £60 Mirrors£4.1s. Wind-up windows£40. Steering lock £12.10s. Hopkirk Pedal 16s/6d. Benelite Grille with spot and fog £22. Basket Weave on Doors and Rear Panels £43.10s. Automatic Rev Light £8. Additional Trimming £7.

Repaint interior & exterior Why? well the car was Red & Black and then it got Sprinzelised black paint work.

Wood & Pickett used to do the work for John Sprinzel apart from the baskett weave.

The total cost of VLX was £1,255.5s.10d.

Len.

speedwheel wrote:These are the extras that was fitted from new to VLX 31G this is from its original sale invoice from John Sprinzel Limited Lancaster Mews London..

Date of invoice 9/8/1968

Morris Cooper 'S' 1275 MK2

Body and Colour Black

Reclining front seats £12.10s. seat belts £8.10s. repainting interior&exterior black £70.
Goldie Sun Roof and Deflector £60 Mirrors£4.1s. Wind-up windows£40. Steering lock £12.10s. Hopkirk Pedal 16s/6d. Benelite Grille with spot and fog £22. Basket Weave on Doors and Rear Panels £43.10s. Automatic Rev Light £8. Additional Trimming £7.

Repaint interior & exterior Why? well the car was Red & Black and then it got Sprinzelised black paint work.

Wood & Pickett used to do the work for John Sprinzel apart from the baskett weave.

The total cost of VLX was £1,255.5s.10d.

Len.

...very interesting info, esp that w/p did all the extra work,did it not have tinted glass then with the tilling conversion ??..considering i was earning 7 pounds 5 shillings and 10d a week only 4 months after the car was modded....!!! it wasnt a cheap mini.... be great to see some nice shots of it today... tks