Filter

À la gloire de la minicar de Bond

Dans une époque où le monde de la publicité n'était pas aussi exploré, ou exploité peut-être, qu'il ne l'est aujourd'hui, personne n'a trouvé étrange que Stirling Moss fasse l'éloge de la Bond Minicar comme étant "une petite voiture très sympathique". Extrait d'un publireportage d'époque : "Ma première surprise a été immédiate : il y a beaucoup de place pour le conducteur et le passager, et il y a de la place pour un enfant entre les deux, bien que dans le modèle familial que j'ai emprunté, il y ait deux sièges à l'arrière qui peuvent accueillir confortablement deux enfants !". Il poursuit en parlant de la grande puissance de traction du moteur de 197 cm3 et de sa vivacité qui est "pratique à l'extrême", ajoutant effrontément : "Il est, bien sûr, déconseillé d'utiliser trop les freins quand on voyage à grande vitesse".
C’est évident, n’est-ce pas?

 

Nous n'avons pas trouvé le modèle de Minicar vu ici, un break ou même un commercial avec ses côtés fermés ? Ce n'est pas dans le livre de Bond  que nous le rencontrons, mais cette photo doit tout simplement être une photo de relations publiques. Dites-nous quelle est cette voiture. Le fait est que c'est encore une autre époque. Elle représente peut-être les suffragettes des années 50 en hauts talons (pas vraiment pratiques pour conduire la Minicar), mais c'est peut-être un peu exagéré. Il faut savoir qu'en 1958, la loi sur les pairie à vie venait tout juste d'autoriser les femmes à siéger à la Chambre des Lords. La pilule contraceptive a été introduite un an ou deux plus tard, mais uniquement pour les femmes mariées. Il y avait beaucoup de choses à explorer bien des lunes avant qu'elles ne soient exploitées.

Oh, il n'y a aucune chance que toutes ces boîtes rentrent dans le petit trois-roues. Qu'est-ce qu'il y a dedans, d'ailleurs ? Des pièces de rechange, sûrement nécessaires ? Désolé. Faire des blagues à ce sujet serait bien trop simple mais nous adorons ça.

 

Texte de Jeroen Booij

 

Publié:
mercredi novembre 9th, 2022
Paul Grogan
06 Octobre 2023, 15:37
The picture above is a Press Release picture from Sharp’s Commercials showing the newly released Bond Minicar Mark F Ranger. This was a commercial version of the Mark F Family Saloon where the carrying capacity was quoted as 3 cwt. or 31 cu. ft. The young lady posing for the pictures outside the Spares Department inside the factory in Ribbleton Lane, Preston is Mrs. Barbara Barnes, nee Alston. She was employed at the time by the company as (I believe) a secretary and featured in the Mark F Ranger pictures and some of the P3 / P4 scooter publicity photographs shown below.
The Ranger vehicle in the picture is a standard model painted only in grey primer, lacking any side trims and costing £295 0s 0d. The idea was that the tradesman purchasing such a vehicle could then paint it in his own colours. it appears it was not a popular idea as only 9 vehicles are recorded as being sold in primer only. Most customers appeared to prefer paying the £4 10s 0d extra to have their vehicle painted by the factory in one of the standard colours of the time. This would have been British racing green, light green or scarlet. Hardtops were painted either in stone or white.
Lire la suite
brakeservo
13 Novembre 2022, 17:42
Sir Stirling:
Lire la suite
brakeservo
13 Novembre 2022, 17:41
Another view
Lire la suite
brakeservo
13 Novembre 2022, 17:39
I'm based in USA and have imported two Bond MiniCars, a 1954 Mark C and a 1956 Mark D. With the right mindset, they're a lot of fun, and in the austere post WWII era made a bit of sense, not so much today yet it's too bad we can't return to those simpler times. One memory stands out - driving the Mark C across metropolitan Portland Oregon during afternoon rush hour, surrounded by "soccer moms" in their huge SUVs and overly compensating men with their huge jacked up 4X4s! My biggest fear was stalling the little car as one needed to get out, open the hood and use a kick starter on the little Villiers motorcycle engine that powered it!
Lire la suite
Philip Joisce
13 Novembre 2022, 11:09
If you look inside the tailgate, the normal rear deck of the saloon is visible. I had a sililarly shaped 1960 Mk F with the 250cc single cylinder engine, the Mk G which followed had a 250 Twin engine.

The hard top unbolted quite easily, so whereas mine had a large rear window, the hardtop in the publicity pic could easily be substituted, turning it into a hatchback.

During the summer I would run around without the top on, from the rear the car looked very low, wide track and sporty with the flared rear arches. The performance was perfectly adequate for a 16 year old legally driving alone with a provisional driving licence. I once saw an indicated 70-75 mph with a very strong following wind and the car was eerily quiet! Normal top indicated speed was 50-55 mph, I slowed down gradually to the normal speed feeling like a test pilot who had just gone through the sound barrier...

You could put it on full lock from standstill and eventually it would go on one rear wheel and the front, I only intentionally did it once and promptly reduced the throttle to get back on all three wheeels. There were a few unintentional two wheel incidents where a corner was tighter than expected on entry, but it handled very well thanks to the wide rear track in relation to the height and centre of gravity.

It was bought for £5, sold for £20 a year and a half later once I had my full 4 wheel licence , It isn't listed by DVLA so I don't think it is around any more - reg was 468 KVK - fond memories!
Lire la suite
Joop Terpstra
11 Novembre 2022, 16:44
Maybe James Bond transports his shaken not stirred drinks in it? Rather cosy with the Bond Girl next to him on a slow trip to a picknick perhaps? Who knows...
Lire la suite

Ajoutez un commentaire...


Connectez-vous pour poster directement votre réaction

Téléchargez des images de votre réaction