John Mastrangelo, Springfield Farm, Vinney Lane, Horton, Nr Chipping Sodbury, South Gloucestershire, UK. BS37 6PE
Stuart Reid, 1 Abbey Mews, Hillesley Road, Kingswood, Wotton under Edge, Gloucestershire, UK GL12 8SH
Champs in Movies
To my knowledge there are several movies and television programs that have used Austin Champs as props this is the list so far. Details only on some yet, anyone who has more details please email me. thanks Malcolm....
1. Quartermass and the Pit, also called
Five Million Years to Earth
2. Dirty Weekend, directed by Carlo Ponti
3. Digby The biggest dog in the world
4. Lets Get Skase , features Champ
belonging at the time to Baz Ford Western Australia. I have a
copy of the DVD and photos from Baz of the shotting of the movie,
to be added
5. An Episode of the The Bill Seen
by Sid Hayes who then taped so I could get the brief shot as a
still image - thanks Dad
6. Austin Promotional
Video
7. Monarch of the Glen
8.
Bergerac
9. The Magnificant 2 Morcame and Wise --- I have a copy of
this. A whole fleet of Champs in a Morecombe & Wise film (probably
very early 1970's) which were used by the 'enemy' to attack a
fort or camp which was being protected by Eric & Ernie (God
help it).
10 20000 suspects
11 Sitting Target - I have a copy of this, still need to digitize
the photos
12. SciFi film The Night Caller - contains 10 second sequence
of army driving champ cross country and seeking out mud and water.
Filmed on Salsbury Plain
Dear Sir ,
I own two Austin Champ vehicles, and was most interested to find your website. One of my Champs appears in the Paramount movie "Congo", which was released in 1995. Paramount rented the Champ from me several times for the production of this movie. I was also fortunate enough to work on the set, looking after my Champ and several other vehicles, for a week. This was in the late Summer of 1994. Although Paramount rented my vehicle for several weeks, I believe that it appears "on screen" for only about 15 seconds. There were several other Champs used as props in the movie - one painted white, and marked with United Nations decals, one painted tan, one painted OD green, and mine, which is still in the original British Army green. Mine was the only vehicle actually driven in the movie - the other three were just static background props.
My "movie" Champ was acquired from an army surplus store near Santa Cruz, CA, where it had sat for years as a static display. Naturally, the rear-end stub-axle carrier bearings were broken. I managed to do the whole axle/rear-end disassembly routine, thanks to my original copy of the British Army REME detailed Champ manual (about the size of a New York phone book, with lots of diagrams, detailed parts lists, and detailed procedures outlined.) I found parts from several sources, and have since driven thevehicle on many camping and wilderness trips.
My second champ was acquired from a "hillbilly" in the mountains near Yosemite National Park, in CA. It runs and drives OK, but the rear end needs axle/bearing work.
The "movie" Champ was originally a radio car, and I am planning to restore it to that configuration, in conjunction with my other hobby of amateur radio.
The numbers of my two cars are 10678 and 9415. You are certainly welcome to enter them in your registry, if you wish.
Sincerely,
Steve Hubbard
Yakima, WA USA
Calliope on TV "Black Sheep Squadron"
By Jim Welty
I can only guess, but perhaps the Japanese received the calliope
on the same ship that brought them the Austin Champ 4x4s [trucks]
that were not even in production until 1952. These were shown in most
shots of the Japanese island bases, always with the large red meatball painted on the side or hood.
If you learned one thing from that great TV series, it was
that Pappy and his men were very resourceful. Apparently the Japanese were
too.
Happy Holidays.
Jim Welty
A List of Cars Used In Survivors
As you may know if you've seen SURVIVORS,cars only appear
regularly in season one, Champs x 3 are in one episode - called
Somthing Of Value.
Description
of Condition Numbers:
1 Restored, Running in original
condition 2 Under restoration or to be restored 3 Salvable 4 Fit for spares 5 Broken up
6 Modified
7 No
trace since sold.
The Austin Champ Register
Website is produced from information gathered from across the world.