Michael Caine in the Italian Job DB4
Discussion
I'm new around these parts so apologies if this has already been discussed. Whilst idly surfing I came across these images of Michael Caine back in 163 ELT, the convertible that miraculously survived the Italian Job movie.
It got me wondering what the footage ended up as, and this seems to explain it;
http://uopnews.port.ac.uk/2016/10/28/film-students...
I'm sure a few of us would love to see the finished version of whatever it was!
It got me wondering what the footage ended up as, and this seems to explain it;
http://uopnews.port.ac.uk/2016/10/28/film-students...
I'm sure a few of us would love to see the finished version of whatever it was!
" Pretty car " I think he said before the bulldozer pushed it over the edge.
Cheers. Great pics.
Cheers. Great pics.
Loose_Cannon said:
I'm new around these parts so apologies if this has already been discussed. Whilst idly surfing I came across these images of Michael Caine back in 163 ELT, the convertible that miraculously survived the Italian Job movie.
It got me wondering what the footage ended up as, and this seems to explain it;
http://uopnews.port.ac.uk/2016/10/28/film-students...
I'm sure a few of us would love to see the finished version of whatever it was!
It got me wondering what the footage ended up as, and this seems to explain it;
http://uopnews.port.ac.uk/2016/10/28/film-students...
I'm sure a few of us would love to see the finished version of whatever it was!
Upperworks said:
I was sat right round the corner when this was taken! I was having a coffee and took a picture myself. About 4 years ago right?
Yes can't work that out, the pictures are on Flickr from 2013-ish, but the newspaper article is 2016, slating some kind of "release" in 2017. Its a film student project, so unless they are budding Stanley Kubrick perfectionists what's taken so long?Edited by Loose_Cannon on Thursday 26th January 07:59
Loose_Cannon said:
I'm new around these parts so apologies if this has already been discussed. Whilst idly surfing I came across these images of Michael Caine back in 163 ELT, the convertible that miraculously survived the Italian Job movie.
StunningIIRC, I read that when the DB4 went down the side of the mountain, there was a problem with either the way the car fell or the way it was filmed, so they took a 'donor car' (a Fiat from memory) and put body panels on to make it look like a DB4 before reshooting the scene. That would possibly explain why the DB4 was recoverable/repairable
You can tell they made the switch because when he picks the car up from the garage, the bonnet hinges open at the front as it should. When the car is going down the mountain, the bonnet opens at the windscreen end
I also recall reading that Caine didn't have a driving licence so couldn't actually drive the car
It takes longer for Sir Mick to get about these days probably.
Would be great to see another film tho.
Cheers
Would be great to see another film tho.
Cheers
Loose_Cannon said:
Yes can't work that out, the pictures are on Flickr from 2013-ish, but the newspaper article is 2016, slating some kind of "release" in 2017. Its a film student project so unless they are buddling Stanley Kubrick perfectionists whats taken so long?
MC was 50 when he got his license apparently.
As to the history of 163ELT its a bit fuzzy. One of the "actors" in the movie was actually the car dealer who sourced the cars for the movie. There was an interview with him in a recent issue of Octane and TBH even his facts weren't straight!
The fact that the car filmed going over the cliff is a hastily repanelled Lancia Appia is well known. That some backstreet Turin coachbuilder managed to make a convincing replica within 24 hours is remarkable.
The reason they used a replica is less clear and there are several reasons bandied about the internet;
1. The DB4 went over and didn't look right (pyrotechnic explosion went off to soon)
2. The DB4 didn't go over and was too badly damaged for a retake (this looks about right in the finished film where the digger strugles to tip it over the low wall, however surely repairing body damage on an Aston in 24 hours is easier than making a completely different car look like one?)
3. The car was too valuable to actually destroy (unlikely, given the low value of the car at the time and the amount of other expensive stuff they wrecked).
4. Part of the same theory no.3 is they took TWO DB4 volantes over and the one that should have gone over caught fire in storage. Again unlikely they found 2 volantes, and pretty sure David Salamond (?) the owner/actor/driver has said there was just the one.
I would love to know the history of 163ELT immediately afterwards as well, i.e. who made the decision to save it, and bring it back home and restore it? It appears in a very old Benny Hill sketch from a few years after the Italian Job looking remarkably complete. Seeing as he is in the film was it him?
If there isn't a magazine article on this car aleady there bloody well should be. Are you reading this classic car journo type persons??
As to the history of 163ELT its a bit fuzzy. One of the "actors" in the movie was actually the car dealer who sourced the cars for the movie. There was an interview with him in a recent issue of Octane and TBH even his facts weren't straight!
The fact that the car filmed going over the cliff is a hastily repanelled Lancia Appia is well known. That some backstreet Turin coachbuilder managed to make a convincing replica within 24 hours is remarkable.
The reason they used a replica is less clear and there are several reasons bandied about the internet;
1. The DB4 went over and didn't look right (pyrotechnic explosion went off to soon)
2. The DB4 didn't go over and was too badly damaged for a retake (this looks about right in the finished film where the digger strugles to tip it over the low wall, however surely repairing body damage on an Aston in 24 hours is easier than making a completely different car look like one?)
3. The car was too valuable to actually destroy (unlikely, given the low value of the car at the time and the amount of other expensive stuff they wrecked).
4. Part of the same theory no.3 is they took TWO DB4 volantes over and the one that should have gone over caught fire in storage. Again unlikely they found 2 volantes, and pretty sure David Salamond (?) the owner/actor/driver has said there was just the one.
I would love to know the history of 163ELT immediately afterwards as well, i.e. who made the decision to save it, and bring it back home and restore it? It appears in a very old Benny Hill sketch from a few years after the Italian Job looking remarkably complete. Seeing as he is in the film was it him?
If there isn't a magazine article on this car aleady there bloody well should be. Are you reading this classic car journo type persons??
HBradley said:
That scene almost destroyed my childhood!! All that majestic tipped off an Italian mountainside (& I'm not talking about the minis)!
It also did a lot to thin out my childhood model car collection as the digger sequence was endlessly replayed from the top of our stairs! No video game repeats in the 70s, you had to act out your fantasies! My beautiful Dinky DB5 convertible bit the dust this way 
what a prat I was for doing that. The awful memory of destroying it keeps me awake at least 2 or 3 times a year. It was for a documentary called Working Class Heroes that Michael Caine was narrating.
http://www.mrbenhilton.com/workingclassheroes/
http://www.mrbenhilton.com/workingclassheroes/
Loose_Cannon said:
HBradley said:
That scene almost destroyed my childhood!! All that majestic tipped off an Italian mountainside (& I'm not talking about the minis)!
It also did a lot to thin out my childhood model car collection as the digger sequence was endlessly replayed from the top of our stairs! No video game repeats in the 70s, you had to act out your fantasies! My beautiful Dinky DB5 convertible bit the dust this way what a prat I was for doing that. The awful memory of destroying it keeps me awake at least 2 or 3 times a year. 
I would imagine the car they tipped over the mountainside was actually a Lancia Flaminia Touring Spyder, because with a few small modifications to the headlights and grille, it looks almost exactly like a DB4 convertible.
And I'd imagine they didn't tip the DB4 over because it was an Aston Martin DB4, rather than for any other reason.
And I'd imagine they didn't tip the DB4 over because it was an Aston Martin DB4, rather than for any other reason.
The detective work is going well now.
I too seem to recall reference, to the use of a Lancia.
I note from the cliff shot, that car is left hand drive.
Does that match with the earlier driving scenes?
Obvious bonnet and front fabrication.
Puzzled though by the wiper arm parked positions, between the RHD Aston and the LHD Lancia.
Maybe it was Leepo and Bernie from " chop shop " LOL
Loose_Cannon said:
MC was 50 when he got his license apparently.
As to the history of 163ELT its a bit fuzzy. One of the "actors" in the movie was actually the car dealer who sourced the cars for the movie. There was an interview with him in a recent issue of Octane and TBH even his facts weren't straight!
The fact that the car filmed going over the cliff is a hastily repanelled Lancia Appia is well known. That some backstreet Turin coachbuilder managed to make a convincing replica within 24 hours is remarkable.
The reason they used a replica is less clear and there are several reasons bandied about the internet;
1. The DB4 went over and didn't look right (pyrotechnic explosion went off to soon)
2. The DB4 didn't go over and was too badly damaged for a retake (this looks about right in the finished film where the digger strugles to tip it over the low wall, however surely repairing body damage on an Aston in 24 hours is easier than making a completely different car look like one?)
3. The car was too valuable to actually destroy (unlikely, given the low value of the car at the time and the amount of other expensive stuff they wrecked).
4. Part of the same theory no.3 is they took TWO DB4 volantes over and the one that should have gone over caught fire in storage. Again unlikely they found 2 volantes, and pretty sure David Salamond (?) the owner/actor/driver has said there was just the one.
I would love to know the history of 163ELT immediately afterwards as well, i.e. who made the decision to save it, and bring it back home and restore it? It appears in a very old Benny Hill sketch from a few years after the Italian Job looking remarkably complete. Seeing as he is in the film was it him?
If there isn't a magazine article on this car aleady there bloody well should be. Are you reading this classic car journo type persons??
As to the history of 163ELT its a bit fuzzy. One of the "actors" in the movie was actually the car dealer who sourced the cars for the movie. There was an interview with him in a recent issue of Octane and TBH even his facts weren't straight!
The fact that the car filmed going over the cliff is a hastily repanelled Lancia Appia is well known. That some backstreet Turin coachbuilder managed to make a convincing replica within 24 hours is remarkable.
The reason they used a replica is less clear and there are several reasons bandied about the internet;
1. The DB4 went over and didn't look right (pyrotechnic explosion went off to soon)
2. The DB4 didn't go over and was too badly damaged for a retake (this looks about right in the finished film where the digger strugles to tip it over the low wall, however surely repairing body damage on an Aston in 24 hours is easier than making a completely different car look like one?)
3. The car was too valuable to actually destroy (unlikely, given the low value of the car at the time and the amount of other expensive stuff they wrecked).
4. Part of the same theory no.3 is they took TWO DB4 volantes over and the one that should have gone over caught fire in storage. Again unlikely they found 2 volantes, and pretty sure David Salamond (?) the owner/actor/driver has said there was just the one.
I would love to know the history of 163ELT immediately afterwards as well, i.e. who made the decision to save it, and bring it back home and restore it? It appears in a very old Benny Hill sketch from a few years after the Italian Job looking remarkably complete. Seeing as he is in the film was it him?
If there isn't a magazine article on this car aleady there bloody well should be. Are you reading this classic car journo type persons??
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