Red, White and Blue. The famous three Mk1 Mini Cooper S’s used in the classic 1969 crime caper The Italian Job (pictured above). The production team bought six Coopers and 25 regular Minis from Switzerland and each one had a three-point roll cage fitted and the back seats taken out. Because they were tough and relatively light, few mods were needed (the only real issue was the ground clearance), but saying that the stunt team still did an unbelievable job!
In a perfect example of Britishness that reflects the spirit of the film, throughout the famous chase scenes the Minis stay in perfect red, white and blue order. Clearly it was all about the detail.
It seems that no-one is sure quite how many of these were actually Coopers and how many were regular Minis but regardless the car’s use in the film became iconic. Ken Morris, one of the very last of the crew to leave Turin after filming, said they left a garage with six Minis and 30 sets of mag wheels in. He locked the doors and came back to England and he was later quoted as saying that he was never sure if Paramount Pictures or the production company ever went to pick them up! A treasure trove of what is arguably one of the most iconic cars of all time!
According to the DVDs director’s commentary BMC – the makers of the Mini – only agreed to give the film a small number of Minis and the rest would have to be bought, albeit at trade prices. At the same time, Fiat offered as many super-charged Fiat 500s as they wanted but the producers wanted Minis. It is also said that the Italian Mafia arranged to have entire sections of Turin closed for filming and the traffic jams – as well as the reactions from annoyed commuters – are very real!
There are lots of films that are instantly recognisable by one single line of dialogue. Yet despite the Turin sewer chase and the (actual) cliff-hanger at the end, Michael Caine’s Charlie Croker utters the immortal line “you’re only supposed to blow the bloody doors off” as his team blow up a van.
As an aside, the Lamborghini Miura that featured in the opening scene which was assumed to have been destroyed was quite recently discovered by two British businessmen. In a story reminiscent of a spy thriller, they got a tip-off in December 2014 that the car had surfaced after 46 years and were given three hours to verify it was the original. It was. One of the new owners said, ‘The Italian Job Lamborghini is the holy grail of supercars precisely because no one knew what happened to it after the film.’
Interesting fact: Star Michael Caine couldn’t drive at the time and is never seen driving a car!
