Lamborghini Miura

The Miura was coup for the production team, it was the supercar of the time, and many still believe that it is still the best looking supercar ever made. The production team couldn't really justify the expense to buy a new Miura. Lamborghini helped out by selling the crew a full shell, which was promptly painted bright Orange and placed on an accident damaged Miura chassis that the production had also been lucky to get their hands on.

It was a truly stunning car that had only been launched a few years earlier in 1966 at the Geneva Motor Show. Production ran at Lamborghini for little over six years, in which they had made just 762. The ironic thing is that the Mini was born out of the fuel crisis in the 50's and the Miura's demise was due to a fuel crisis in the 70's.

Miura on Alpine roads

Where is it now?

Showroom Example

Beckerman's Miura was a classy sight to the first viewers of The Italian Job, but unfortunately it didn't get that much screen time. Destroyed in a tunnel by the mob's Caterpillar, it was unceremoniously pushed down the mountainside. You can just make out that the Miura's chassis has no engine in it as it plummets down the mountain. Special effects crew member, Ken Morris, remembered that they went to retrieve the Miura the next day, but it had disappeared. They looked everywhere for it, but they never found it. He concluded that someone must have seen them throw it down the mountain and launched a midnight expedition to retrieve it. I wonder if it is still around today?

In the film the registration number of the Lamborghini Miura is not clearly visible, but it almost certainly had an Italian 'Targa Prova' plate (black & white) .If you look at it carefully you can see the red word PROVA and below the white letters and numers. (may be BO.... because Lamborghini Factory is based in S. Agata , close to Bologna).
I have been informed that the registration number was BO 296.

Jaguar E-Types
Croker's plan involved three fast cars on standby. Two of these cars were Series 1 Jaguar E-Types, in effect the British rival to the Italian Miura. One was a black fixed head Coupe, the other was a red roadster. Unfortunately, these Jags suffered the same fate as the Miura, being crushed my the mob and pushed down the mountainside. The production crew managed to get the E-Types for £900 each, which was a bit of a bargain at the time, even though they were 7-8 years old by then.

Makes you wanna cry

Mob's Caterpillar gets to work

Restored & with the Top Gear film crew

Little is known about the black fixed head coupe, the registration was 619 DXX, but the red 3.8L Roadster (848 CRY) is alive and kicking today. The early Roadster was originally the demonstrator for the Leicester distributors, Sturgess's - it was the 12th E-Type to be built. It was the first E-Type to be involved in motorsport and was raced with success during 1961 by Robin Sturgess with the registration 2 BBC. In 1962 Sturgess re-registered the car 848 CRY and it was sold. Then it ended up in the hands of model Richard Essame, who landed a part in The Italian Job, as 'Tony', one of the Cooper drivers. Richard drove the car to location in Italy and where the production team thought it would be ideal in the movie and purchased the car from him.

It's unclear where the Jag was since the filming finished, but it was totally restored in the early nineties and has been featured in a variety of magazine articles and on BBC's Top Gear programme and is owned by internationally renowned Jaguar author, motoring historian and founder of The E-Type Club, Philip Porter.

Philip Porter's 848 CRY today

Aston Martin DB4
Charlie's 1961 (or '62) DB4 convertible was a stunning car (Registration 163 ELT). Caine couldn't actually drive whilst The Italian Job was been filmed, so clever editing had to be done when he collected it after his stay in Wormwood Scrubs! It's often said that the Aston blew up early in the filming, so it wasn't actually the DB4 that you see go over the mountainside. This is half-true, In actual fact the DB4 was pushed over the side of the mountain, but the crew weren't happy with the scene as they wanted it to burst into flames. But the special effects crew member (Pat Moore) with the 'explode' button had to run for his life as the Aston was heading for him, so they employed the services of an excellent body building firm in Turin, who dressed up a Lancia Flaminia 3c Cabriolet. (Not a Lancia Appia Cabriolet nor an Alfa Romeo which many have noted). You can tell when the car flips down the gorge, because the bonnet opens with the hinge at the windscreen end, whereas the real DB4 bonnet hinges at the headlight end - as seen when Charlie recovers his money from the engine bay after getting out of the nick.

They were having difficulty actually getting the Aston over the wall, so bus driver Fred Toms dressed up like one of the mob and did the job! Rumours have it that the Aston has been restored, but there is no info available at the time of writing.

Charlie collects Aston

Lancia Flaminia 3c Cabriolet was dressed up like the DB4

Both E-Types

Director Peter Collinson sledgehammers the black E-Type for the right effect!

Aston Martin DB4 meets Caterpillar 944A

Fake DB4 down the gorge

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