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  • The Italian Job (1969)
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Film & TV
Film-TV
1960s

History

The Italian Job Film Cars (1969)

The Italian Job Film Cars  

Here we will list all the cars used during the filming of the classic British film from 1969

According to the director's commentary on the DVD, despite the publicity the film would give to the Mini, the car's maker, BMC, only provided a token fleet of Minis and the production company had to buy the rest at trade price. Fiat offered the production as many super-charged Fiat cars as they needed, several sports cars for the Mafia confrontation scene, plus $50,000, but the producers turned down the offer because it would have meant replacing the Minis with Fiats.

The Minis seen on screen carry registration numbers HMP 729G (Red), GPF 146G (White) and LGW 809G (Blue). As at July 2012, a DVLA query indicates that two of these plates may still be registered; these, however, are not the cars used in the film as the film cars had "future dated" plates to make them current with the release date of the film, and as such would not be allowed to use them on the roadThere were also numerous detail differences between the Minis used during filming and the launch of the "G" year suffix. According to the "making of" DVD extra, the Minis used in the chase scenes were all destroyed in accidents while filming the sewer sequence.

The italian job mini coopers

Roger Beckermann's orange Lamborghini Miura in the opening scene is actually two cars. The first was a Miura P400 that was sold as new afterwards. The car tumbled down the chasm by the Mafia bulldozer was another Miura that had been in a serious accident and was not roadworthy.

As Croker walks through the garage where the Minis are being prepared, viewers hear that "Rozzer's having trouble with his differential", and the back of the red Mini Cooper is jacked up where Rozzer is working. This is an inside joke since the Mini has front-wheel drive and does not have a rear differential. In the early 1960s, front-wheel-drive cars were new and asking a car mechanic to repair a Mini's rear differential was a popular snipe hunt.

     

 

Gold cost $39 per troy ounce in 1968; so four million dollars in gold bars would have weighed about 3200 kg (7000 lb), requiring each of the three Minis to carry about 1070 kg (2300 lb) in addition to the driver and passenger. Since a 1968 Mini only weighs 630 kg (1400 lb each of these vehicles would have had to carry 1½ times its own weight in gold.

Charlie Croker picks up his Aston Martin DB4 convertible from a garage after release from prison. The scene was mostly improvised, which caused visible lighting irregularities since the crew did not know where the actors would be. The original DB4 belongs today to a private English collection.

According to several sources, the "Aston" pushed off the cliff was a Vignale Lancia Flaminia mocked up as an Aston. The two E-type Jaguars that suffered from the Mafia's revenge were restored to original condition. The black Fiat Dino coupé of Mafia boss Altabani was bought by Peter Collinson but became so rusty that only its doors remain.

The Italian police cars seen around Turin were Alfa Romeo Giulias. The Italian police armoured car which escorts the gold convoy is a conversion of a former Second World War American M8 Greyhound armoured car. The original 37mm gun was removed and replaced with a water cannon.

     


A Land Rover Series IIa Station Wagon registration BKO 686C was used to get to the convoy before attacking and was modified with window bars and a "Towbar".

A Ford Thames 400E van was used for the football fans' decorated van; this was referred to as the Dormobile, the name of a common camper-van conversion coachbuilder.

The coach at the end of the film was a 1964 Bedford VAL with Harrington Legionnaire Body, distinctive for its twin front steering axles. Following the filming, the coach had its improvised rear doors welded and was used on a Scottish school bus route until the mid-1980s when, according to the Legionnaire register, it was scrapped.

Some of the Vehicles used in the film

View all the film cars used here

1963 Alfa Romeo Giulia 1600 Spider
1963 Alfa Romeo Giulia TI 
1962 Alfa Romeo Giulietta 
1962 Aston Martin DB4 Convertible
1962 Austin A60 Cambridge
1958 Austin FX4
1967 Austin Mini Cooper S 1275
1964 Bedford VAL 14
Caterpillar 944 A
Caterpillar D7 17A
1966 Daimler Limousine
1942 Dodge WC 56
1941 Dodge WC 62
1963 Fiat 1100 D
1961 Fiat 1100 Familiare
1959 Fiat 1100 Lusso
1961 Fiat 1100 Speciale
1966 Fiat 124
1967 Fiat 124 Sport Coupé
1961 Fiat 1500
1963 Fiat 1500 Cabriolet
1963 Fiat 2300
1962 Fiat 2300 S Coupé
1961 Fiat 413 Viberti
1964 Fiat 500 D
1965 Fiat 500 F
1965 Fiat 500 F Giardiniera
1961 Fiat 600 D
1953 Fiat 615 N
1965 Fiat 850 Coupé
1965 Fiat 850 Coupé Vignale
1968 Fiat 850 Special
1968 Fiat 850 Sport Spider
1959 Fiat Campagnola AR 59
1967 Fiat Dino Coupé

 

1966 Ford Anglia
1961 Ford Consul 315
1963 Ford Consul Cortina MkI
1966 Ford Zodiac MkIV

1965 Glas 1700 TS
1960 Innocenti A40 MkI
1964 Innocenti IM 3
1966 Innocenti

Mini Minor MkI
1961 Jaguar E-Type
1962 Jaguar E-Type
1968 Lamborghini Miura P400
1953 Lancia Appia
1956 Lancia Appia
1957 Lancia Flaminia Convertible
1959 Lancia Flaminia Coupé
1965 Lancia Flavia Coupé
1963 Lancia Fulvia
1965 Lancia Fulvia Coupé
1965 Land-Rover 109'Series IIa Station Wago
1963 Morris 1100 MkI
1954 Morris-Commercial LC5
Morrison-Electricar
1950 Moto Guzzi Falcone
1969 NSU Prinz 4
1958 NSU Prinz II
1967 SAAB Sedan
1961 Simca Aronde P60 Montlhéry
1959 Thames 10cwt
1967 Vauxhall Victor 101 Estate
1962 Volkswagen 1200 [Typ 1]


The Italian Job Film ending

Gallery

Gallery
    italian job film 1969

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The Italian Job | 60s Film Cars | Vignale

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