Futuristic Shite - UFO ( the TV Series )

[Triang]

 

Anyone care to guess what this futureshite was based on???

 

In the future all cars will have c rappy panel fit - and their gull wing doors will be held open by broomsticks.... official

[Triang]

or these two Futureshite beauties???

 

 

ps crap Trivia - the gold one on the right was later bought by Dave Lee Travis who used it for several years ... ( figures) even though the doors never worked as gull wings and exhaust fumes wafted round the interior...

[pompei]

Those wheels look Rover P5-ish?Allegro headlights? Now I'm just guessing!And WTF are those in the second pic?

[Triang]

This is one of those unfair "either know it or you don't" questions that usually come up on "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" for the £500k prize ..There are no clues from the wheeltrims so the only clues to go on are Cars constructed around 1969/70 in the UK using sheet metal banged into shape on a cheapish platform that was big enough to pull the car around...Mind you that six-wheeler looks FWD with 1970 Capri headlights????Any help?

[r.welfare]

MkIV Zephyr

[Triang]

MkIV Zephyr

In one But what about the six wheeled beauty ... I reckon (I don't know for sure ) Mini or 1100 based ( not bad for 1969 - BL could have done it themselves and had a credible Ford Escot van competitor with a Berlingo type shape years ahead of the opposition?

[Electric Leyland]

MkIV Zephyr

In one

 

 

As previosuly seen in Doppelganger.

 

 

 

It was then used for UFO, plus they made another one:

 

 

 

Here is is now.....

 

 

 

 

 

Another shot of this. Something slightly Mini-Moke-esque about it I reckon. Great site well found Triang!!!

 

 

 

 

[/img]

[Triang]

That "doppelganger" shot of it wearing MKIV Zodiac wheeltrims gave the game away a bit....So after DLT finished with it it ended up looking like that then? I wonder how the fat arse DJ used to get out of it when he whizzed up to whatever function (Radio one Seaside Special?) with all the screaming girlies looking on???Because apparently the gull wing doors never worked - there were no struts - in the TV series a couple of the film crew used to hold up the door off camera and then place a broomstick against the sill to hold it open for the longshots... So DLT would have to heave the thing up enough for him to slide his fat arse out ( I would have paid good money to see that especially if it was raining!

[MrRegieRitmo]

 

 

 

 

I hope the female chauffeurs were accessories to the car? I'd certainly pay a bit extra for them to come with it!

That bloke looks familiar.....what's he been in? Wasn't the one that was in 'The Detectives' in later years was he?

[BrianDamaged]

I'm sure that I read a magazine article on these a few years ago, and they were based on FD Victor running gear (the series was made in 1968 so the timing is about right) Go on, have a trip down memory lane!!!!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8RfzkhqBLY

[bigstraight6]

That bloke looks familiar.....what's he been in? Wasn't the one that was in 'The Detectives' in later years was he?

That looks like George Sewell to me, who went on to play mainly villainous type characters in many a TV drama, and I think he was in 'The detectives' in charge of Louis and Briggs

[mcqueenmachine]

I always thought that Ed 'Comander Straker' Bishop's 'UFO' car was the Ikegna. A car designed by a black American fashion designer which caused a stir as it was touted around the European car shows and was close to being put into production by McLaren. That would be the F1 racing McLaren rather than the mixed-race Glaswegian jail-bird admirably potrayed by Tony Osoba in 'Porridge'. It never happened and Gerry Anderson bought the car. I actually met Dave Lee Travis - grumpy bastard - and managed to steer him onto the subject of the 'UFO' car but he didn't tell me anything I didn't already know. Until recently it was resident at the Isle of Man Motor Museum right up on the montain at Snafell. Where many bikers stop for a cup of tea and to steady their nerves. I very nearly killed myself right outside on a TT-winning 1928 Sunbeam - but that's another story. I do know though that it was sold recently as the museum collection was broken up. If someome could tell me where and when those photos of the car (or one of the cars) in a decripit state were taken I'd be VERY grateful. Come on, chaps.

[Guest]

Ironic that George Sewell should be mentioned as he sadly passed away last week aged 82. Good actor too.

[MrRegieRitmo]

 

 

Relevant on two fronts this picture......George Sewell (the happy looking soul) - in a weird UFO derived concept vehicle!

[garethj]

Boing to this thread, I think the first thing that pointed me to the forum Here's a link to another site with some kewl UFO car pictures, sod the Toyota Prius - I want my car of the future to look like thesehttp://www.cloudster.com/Sets&Vehicles/Sets&VehiclesIndex.htm

[55bloke]

It's quite amazing to me, given the kind of miniscule budgets the programme makers were dealing with, that they actually managed to produce full size, driveable cars!! Oh, and as for the "lady chauffeurs," the girl in the 1st pic is Wanda Ventham- the object of some of my earliest pubescent fantasies!!

[MrRegieRitmo]

I like the lady pictured with Mr Sewell getting out of the car!

[garethj]

Holy thread resurrection, Batman!

 

An awesome article from the '70s

 

And a completely bonkers person who found the car but when the owner wouldn't sell he took a mould of it, in his back garden.  I admire that kind of dedication to something so strange.

 

Page here

[anonymous user]

I remember there were at least two of the gullwing cars, the bronze one was always Ed Bishop's but the white one was often driven by Sherlock Holmes's mother (Wanda Ventham) or one of the other characters. She isn't a chauffeuse, but a passenger, as Gerry Anderson had assumed that by 1980 we would have switched to driving on the right, hence left-hand drive and the use of yank cars in the filming.

I'm not convinced that the found car, being reproduced, is the bronze one but the white one (which apparently got damaged during filming, so any future shots had to be carefully done to hide a mangled wing)

[RichardMoss]

UFO is one of my favourite telly programmes of all time - and my teenage daughters love it too.  I'm a fan of Gerry Anderson's work in general but UFO was his finest hour, closely followed by Captain Scarlet and Thunderbirds. The scripts were excellent and they were not afraid to spend a bit of time developing a story - unlike today's "flash, bang, wallop" stuff.  UFO was great for totty, too - Wanda Ventham as Colonel Lake, Gabrielle Drake as Lt Gaye Ellis, and a whole host of horny S.H.A.D.O. girls.  Some of the costumes were tasty, too - there was a rather raunchy red leather dres that appeared in several episodes - including one where it was wrapped around the lovely Deborah Grant:

[Bren]

From the bowels of my display cabinet I present the following -

 

 

 

 

-

 

 

The yellow one is quite rare. As for the interceptor, I still have the box for that one.

 

Both cars have a keyless motor, which still works (slightly).

 

I remember being fascinated by the series in the 70's because of the vehicles, granada re-run the series form 1986, by this time I was more interested in the shortness of Gabrielle Drake's skirt.

 

I remember the pink coloured car turned up in Cheshire a few years ago and needed major work - not sure what happened to it, but I remember reading on 'tinterweb that somebody was going to restore it.

 

I have both UFO and Space 1999 on DVD - I would say that neither have aged well, however they do take me back to my childhood, and simpler times.

[chaseracer]

Well, well...

 

 

... I never realised Jim Bergerac's missus was in UFO...

[Junkman]

Here is the story of Ed Straker's car:

 

http://www.gerryanderson.co.uk/finding-strakers-car/

[Junkman]

Furthermore, if you want to add one to your row of 1:25 scale chod, now is the time:

 

http://www.modelermagic.com/?p=54747

 

If you have a spare 100 odd quid that is.

[lennyhope]

Well, well...

 

 

... I never realised Jim Bergerac's missus was in UFO...

I have one of those.  I sometimes get stopped to tell me it was the same model that featured as a futuristic car in UFO....It was in factory unmodified stae when they used one.  They had just been launched. 

[garethj]

On that link about finding Straker's car, the bloke says he's got the help of Ed China to make it with a gas turbine engine and electric power.  What reminded me of this was the jet powered Sinclair C5 video on Alexg's winning thread.  On the side of the C5 is the bloke's website address, I urge everyone to look at it for top entertainment value.

 

This part is about converting an MGF to jet plus electric power, it's the sort of thing that makes me proud to be British.

[Hertz]

I enjoyed reading that thanks for posting it again. Do we know where the other one is? I like the way he scoured Google earth for hours on end looking in people's back gardens.... That reminds me I need to shift that bloody shed of a silver DB5 with the machine guns coming out of the headlights from the veg patch.