The British Motor Corporation presents "The Incredible Seven" - Reel 1.
A busy international telephone exchange. C/U a young woman operator placing a call on the Tel Aviv exchange. The exchange operators at work. Traffic scenes. People walking along a busy London street. C/U people's feet as they walk. Passengers climb steps to board a B.O.A.C. plane. The sign over the steps reads "BOAC Monarch Service - Comet 4 Jetliner" (British Overseas Airways Corporation). Ground crew remove the steps from the plane. The Comet Jet takes off. C/U television aerial. Aerials on the tops of houses.
Family stand at bus stops holding suitcases. Father looks at his watch. Bus drives past without stopping. The family all look irritated.
Inside a car design office. Lots of drawing boards and men in white coats. Two men working on clay model of car. Man working at drawing board. He shakes his head and removes the drawing from the board. Animation of blueprint of car design. C/U Alec (Alex) Issigonis. He is working with another man at a drawing board. His colleague nods in agreement. C/U Issigonis. He carries on work at the board. Members of the design team look over the plan. Animation of the blueprint. Shot of the 850 cc engine. Man working at the drawing board. A colleague comes over to discuss something.
Large room with men working on prototype cars. Some cars are covered in white sheets. Men in white coats are building a wooden full size model of the car. They hammer pieces of wood into place and sand the edges to give a smooth finish. The car looks like a forerunner of the Mini.
Prototype Austin Seven (7) Mini. The car is driven on the test track. The car is forced through some tight turns, driven at speed and then brought to a quick stop. C/U of the wheels showing the suspension at work. The car is stopped quickly to test the brakes. More driving of the car. C/U driver in car. C/U extra dials on the dash board to provide information. Two cars draw up next to each other on the test track. The drivers get out to compare notes. Car driven past on test track.
Cars being tested on winding roads in snowy conditions. The voice over says that this testing is being filmed in Norway. The cars are then shown driving on the cobbled streets of Belgium. The cars are filled up with petrol at a BP petrol station. A woman comes out to clean the windscreen. She looks with interest at the car. The cars drive away past a Volkswagen Beetle and a road sign (which includes distances to Liege and Maastricht). The cars are driven through the British countryside. The cars are driven at night with their headlights shining. The cars return to a garage in the factory. Workmen come over to check the cars. More shots of the cars being driven . Nice shot of the road filmed through the windscreen. Cars being driven on a German Autobahn. Shot of drivers feet on peddles. The camera car comes up close behind a lorry and then overtakes. The camera closes in on the speed-o-meter and then moves over to show the view of the open road ahead. C/U of the speedo showing a speed of 75 miles per hour (M.P.H.). The voice over sounds very impressed by this speed. The two minis overtake two Volkswagen Beetles. More shots on the German roads.
Man in workshop at machine. He is testing the rubber suspension cones. C/U of the testing process. Man takes notes. Another machine tests the shock absorbers.
Two prototype Minis (or Austin Sevens) drive down steep roads in snowy mountains. They are show driving around the roads of the Alps in Switzerland. The voice over calls the cars "Baby Austins". The cars are driven through hot conditions in Spain. The roads are dusty. The cars pull up just outside a Spanish village. The drivers get out of their cars and one of them checks his engine. They get back into their cars and drive off. The cars are driven through English country lanes.
Note: Very similar in many respects to "Wizardry on Wheels". Paperwork contains a copy of the commentary script. Colour is faded in this print.
FILM ID:1227.03
A VIDEO FROM BRITISH PATHÉ. EXPLORE OUR ONLINE CHANNEL, BRITISH PATHÉ TV. IT'S FULL OF GREAT DOCUMENTARIES, FASCINATING INTERVIEWS, AND CLASSIC MOVIES. www.britishpathe.tv/
FOR LICENSING ENQUIRIES VISIT www.britishpathe.com/
British Pathé also represents the Reuters historical collection, which includes more than 136,000 items from the news agencies Gaumont Graphic (1910-1932), Empire News Bulletin (1926-1930), British Paramount (1931-1957), and Gaumont British (1934-1959), as well as Visnews content from 1957 to the end of 1984. All footage can be viewed on the British Pathé website. www.britishpathe.com/