Philmanns

I went to the screening of this at the BFI on Monday evening. It was good to see most of the videos on the big screen with decent sound. There was a Q&A afterwards with Bill Butt the director, he was very entertaining. It was suggested in the discussion that the car banger raced was Ford Timelord, of course we all know it wasn’t. It’s also stated as being FT in the DVD also. I’m surprised that it wasn’t considered that many would be able to see that it’s a different year, make & model of car. https://shop.bfi.org.uk/23-seconds-to-eternity-dual-format-edition.html

Cauty drove the Nova around until he smacked it into the Armco, directly in front of me. I had an old (probably 135mm) camera that jammed as I was snapping away, much to my irritation. The front wheel assembly was mostly ripped away from the car and it was game over. After the race had finished the Nova was dragged in front of the Grandstand and Cauty wedged the throttle open leaving it to burn out and attempt to blow the engine. The latter didn’t happen so then he got into the Humber Pig and rammed the car repeatedly until I think the officials put a stop to it. When I spoke to him afterwards and got my programmed signed, I asked him about the filming Bill Butt had been doing and if it would ever be made available. He said it was just for their archives. They didn’t prepare the Nova at all, it was done by Paul Bickers.

Yes, it was white gloss. Only removable with copious amounts of white spirit. “The Rules Of Engagement” as it was titled, referred to the book signing (or stamping as it actually was). Which took place at midnight the evening before the event began. Not the entire event. The event itself was full of KLF fans sporting various memorabilia.

There were others at the time saying “Oh it’s a work of Art now” and “he should have left the paint on it” etc etc. And how it would be worth a fortune now as a Drummond & Cauty artwork. I don’t agree with that one bit. As it stands it is instantly recognisable (to those of a certain age!) as the KLF Ford Timelord, and draws attention accordingly. As some old shitter covered in white paint it’s recognisable to no one , completely defeating the object of its creation in the first place. I wonder how many of those claiming it to be a valuable piece of art, would actually have been willing to pay a fortune for it? None if you ask me 🙂.