MINI2

NordS · May 12th, 2003, 07:55 PM

Can anyone work out why they have used a MCS and two Coopers in the film, all running the same but non-std alloys etc? All MCS versions or a mixture of One, Cooper and MCS I could understand. As it currently stands (from the pictures of the film), it is an odd choice IMHO.

:white:

Is there a reason for this in the story line? Does the Cooper S have a particular stunt requiring more horsepower? Could the film guys just not get sufficent Cooper S' for the stunts etc?

PS Are any of the cars JCW modified as it would be an ideal placement for the bucket seats etc?

Mini1380 · May 12th, 2003, 08:03 PM

I was kind of wondering the same thing, except the ONE is not available in the US. Could it be than that they have a Cooper, an S, and a CVT. Now that would be truely ridiculous if one was a CVT.

Tonyt3 · May 12th, 2003, 08:16 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by NordS
Can anyone work out why they have used a MCS and two Coopers in the film, all running the same but non-std alloys etc? All MCS versions or a mixture of One, Cooper and MCS I could understand. As it currently stands (from the pictures of the film), it is an odd choice IMHO. :white:

Is there a reason for this in the story line? Does the Cooper S have a particular stunt requiring more horsepower? Could the film guys just not get sufficent Cooper S' for the stunts etc?

PS Are any of the cars JCW modified as it would be an ideal placement for the bucket seats etc?

They don't sell the ONE in America, where the film is largely based, so it would make less sense to include a ONE.

The JCW cars would not have been available at time of filming, I guess.

I would suggest that maybe as the 'S' is supposed to be more 'exclusive' than the normal Cooper, perhaps they wanted to give the Cooper as good an impresession as is possible in order to promote sales. Anything an 'S' can do, a Cooper too perhaps. Saying that, at time of filming perhaps they just didn't have anough 'S' cars available. Also, is the 'S' available in white? I haven't ever seen one (virtually no white cars sold in the UK anyway) perhaps this is the reason??

NordS · May 12th, 2003, 11:03 PM

Didn't realise about the US and One issue! Cheers for that. It makes more sense now, but still why not three the same? Advertising purposes perhaps......

erazo · May 13th, 2003, 01:47 AM

I read that the cars were supplied by MINI USA, so my guess is the producers had to accept what they got. Of the 32 cars used, most were "crashed" (according to one of the drivers) during filming.

NordS · May 13th, 2003, 05:51 PM

So don't buy a second hand cooper / MCS in america without checking the previous owners!!!

eltel · May 13th, 2003, 07:01 PM

I've tried to find some more information, as I once heard that only the red Mini (in the original movie) was actually a Cooper S, the others weren't. It doesn't make sense, and I'm trying to recall where I actually got that bit of info from.

NordS · May 13th, 2003, 08:12 PM

Some of the other threads show pictures from the film and you are quite correct. The airintake and petrol cap differences are clearly visable between the red MCS and the other coopers.

I was just wondering why that is (ie if anyone knew the actual answer rather than speculation like mine!)

chiph · May 13th, 2003, 08:21 PM

I can think of two potential reasons:

1) The Chili Red Cooper S is driven by Mark Wahlberg, and the star must always have the most powerful car.

2) The movie people wanted red, white, and blue MINIs, and when filming started, Indi Blue and Pepper White were only available on the Cooper, not the S. While Chili Red is also available in the Cooper, see reason #1.

Chip H.

NordS · May 13th, 2003, 09:13 PM

Chiph,

Excellent thoughts, makes sense and also allows Mini US to show off both varients for marketing purposes (and all of us to speculate on why).

Like your ideas, seems that you have hit the nail on the head!

:white:

OBXMini · May 13th, 2003, 10:52 PM

Could it also have something to do with the 'water' scenes...

They run these cars through some pretty deep water at high speeds - the S would suck a bunch of water in - would it not?

acetonic · May 13th, 2003, 11:43 PM

I just got back from a stunt driving exhibition by Mark Wahlberg's stunt driver in the movie. He's a really nice guy and spent a long time talking with the MINI owners who showed up on a cold morning for this TV segment.

He said that as far as stunts go, there is not much difference between the Cooper and the Cooper S. They are different only in the first few seconds off the line and at top speed.

The films mechanic was there as well and he said that the biggest headache was the aero kits. Every time they drove into some water the whole front of the kit would come right off! He said he got really good at putting the aero kit parts back onto MINI's after they came loose during the stunts. The only modifications they did to the MINI's was to put on a stronger suspension, sway bars and some skinny tires when they wanted lots of skidding around.

this MINI he was using, btw is totally stock, just 2 days off a dealers lot.

chiph · May 14th, 2003, 07:09 AM

Excellent info, Acetonic!

Chip H.

miniyoda · May 14th, 2003, 06:16 PM

I'm still trying to figure out something I noticed in several stills I've seen of the movie. It seems as if the cars have white roofs but black rear-view mirror caps. I thought white roofs meant white rear view mirrors

Yoda

acetonic · May 14th, 2003, 09:24 PM

I didn't think to ask about the black mirrors. I guess someone thought it would look better on film.

The mechanic mentioned that in every shot, the MINI's have all the lights on, headlights, driving lights and fogs. This was also a headache since they busted so many lights in the stunts and had to have them working again for continuity.

BruceK · May 15th, 2003, 06:41 AM

I just got back from my MINI dealer where as special behing-the-scenes film of the making of the Italian Job was showing on the monitor. It's about 10-15 minutes long and even shows the driver training the actors went through before shooting.

Hey that Charlize Theron can really drive! She does a way cool 360 in a MINI and without ever losing momentum, then drives off. I'm in love....

acetonic · May 15th, 2003, 06:56 AM

The stunt driver told us Charlize was involved in 14 MINI's getting crashed. o_O

I'm sure she's a lot better than she was before the film. But she'll have to ride shotgun in my MINI!

:white:

BruceK · May 15th, 2003, 07:27 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by acetonic
The stunt driver told us Charlize was involved in 14 MINI's getting crashed. o_O

I'm sure she's a lot better than she was before the film. But she'll have to ride shotgun in my MINI!

:white:

In the feature about the making of the IJ, it was clear she was the best driver of all the actors. She said that when her agent was trying to arrange for her to be in the movie he was pushing to get her an automatic MINI for her role, and she was indignant about that saying (paraphrased here) "What makes people think that I can't drive just because I'm a woman?! Give me the manual transmission MINI and I'll whip those other guys!" After seeing her stunt driving, I believe her.

Ahhh.... like I said: I'm in love!

NordS · May 19th, 2003, 01:41 AM

If they gave her a automatic, she'd be pulling into a garage every five minutes for more fuel!

AidenL · May 19th, 2003, 01:56 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by BruceK

Ahhh.... like I said: I'm in love!

I always liked that woman !

May 12th, 2003, 08:03 PM	#2 (permalink)
Mini1380 Living in Mini Wasteland Join Date: May 2001 Location: Arkansas Local Time: 12:21 PM Posts: 346 Offline	I was kind of wondering the same thing, except the ONE is not available in the US. Could it be than that they have a Cooper, an S, and a CVT. Now that would be truely ridiculous if one was a CVT. Sold the Cooper. Now driving the Traveller. I mean Clubman.

May 12th, 2003, 08:16 PM	#3 (permalink)
Tonyt3 Track addict Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Hants Local Time: 06:21 PM Posts: 6,258 Offline	Re: Why the mix of Coopers in the Italian Job? Quote: Originally posted by NordS Can anyone work out why they have used a MCS and two Coopers in the film, all running the same but non-std alloys etc? All MCS versions or a mixture of One, Cooper and MCS I could understand. As it currently stands (from the pictures of the film), it is an odd choice IMHO. :white: Is there a reason for this in the story line? Does the Cooper S have a particular stunt requiring more horsepower? Could the film guys just not get sufficent Cooper S' for the stunts etc? PS Are any of the cars JCW modified as it would be an ideal placement for the bucket seats etc? They don't sell the ONE in America, where the film is largely based, so it would make less sense to include a ONE. The JCW cars would not have been available at time of filming, I guess. I would suggest that maybe as the 'S' is supposed to be more 'exclusive' than the normal Cooper, perhaps they wanted to give the Cooper as good an impresession as is possible in order to promote sales. Anything an 'S' can do, a Cooper too perhaps. Saying that, at time of filming perhaps they just didn't have anough 'S' cars available. Also, is the 'S' available in white? I haven't ever seen one (virtually no white cars sold in the UK anyway) perhaps this is the reason??

May 13th, 2003, 08:21 PM	#9 (permalink)
chiph Spectator Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Raleigh, NC Local Time: 01:21 PM Posts: 1,574 Offline	I can think of two potential reasons: 1) The Chili Red Cooper S is driven by Mark Wahlberg, and the star must always have the most powerful car. 2) The movie people wanted red, white, and blue MINIs, and when filming started, Indi Blue and Pepper White were only available on the Cooper, not the S. While Chili Red is also available in the Cooper, see reason #1. Chip H. ex-MINI Cooper S owner and all around good-guy

May 13th, 2003, 11:43 PM	#12 (permalink)
acetonic MINI2 Regular Join Date: May 2002 Location: New Castle, Delaware Local Time: 01:21 PM Posts: 289 Offline	I just got back from a stunt driving exhibition by Mark Wahlberg's stunt driver in the movie. He's a really nice guy and spent a long time talking with the MINI owners who showed up on a cold morning for this TV segment. He said that as far as stunts go, there is not much difference between the Cooper and the Cooper S. They are different only in the first few seconds off the line and at top speed. The films mechanic was there as well and he said that the biggest headache was the aero kits. Every time they drove into some water the whole front of the kit would come right off! He said he got really good at putting the aero kit parts back onto MINI's after they came loose during the stunts. The only modifications they did to the MINI's was to put on a stronger suspension, sway bars and some skinny tires when they wanted lots of skidding around. this MINI he was using, btw is totally stock, just 2 days off a dealers lot. Last edited by acetonic : May 14th, 2003 at 12:09 AM.

May 14th, 2003, 07:09 AM	#13 (permalink)
chiph Spectator Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Raleigh, NC Local Time: 01:21 PM Posts: 1,574 Offline	Excellent info, Acetonic! Chip H. ex-MINI Cooper S owner and all around good-guy

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May 12th, 2003, 07:55 PM	#1
NordS MINI2 Regular Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Between Swindon and Oxford Local Time: 05:21 PM Posts: 298 Offline	Why the mix of Coopers in the Italian Job? Can anyone work out why they have used a MCS and two Coopers in the film, all running the same but non-std alloys etc? All MCS versions or a mixture of One, Cooper and MCS I could understand. As it currently stands (from the pictures of the film), it is an odd choice IMHO. :white: Is there a reason for this in the story line? Does the Cooper S have a particular stunt requiring more horsepower? Could the film guys just not get sufficent Cooper S' for the stunts etc? PS Are any of the cars JCW modified as it would be an ideal placement for the bucket seats etc?

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May 12th, 2003, 11:03 PM	#4 (permalink)
NordS MINI2 Regular Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Between Swindon and Oxford Local Time: 05:21 PM Posts: 298 Offline	Didn't realise about the US and One issue! Cheers for that. It makes more sense now, but still why not three the same? Advertising purposes perhaps......

May 13th, 2003, 01:47 AM	#5 (permalink)
erazo MINI2 Senior Join Date: May 2002 Location: San Diego Local Time: 10:21 AM Posts: 526 Offline	I read that the cars were supplied by MINI USA, so my guess is the producers had to accept what they got. Of the 32 cars used, most were "crashed" (according to one of the drivers) during filming.

May 13th, 2003, 05:51 PM	#6 (permalink)
NordS MINI2 Regular Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Between Swindon and Oxford Local Time: 05:21 PM Posts: 298 Offline	So don't buy a second hand cooper / MCS in america without checking the previous owners!!!

May 13th, 2003, 07:01 PM	#7 (permalink)
eltel MINIstry of Fun Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Eastern Suburbs, Mel Local Time: 03:21 AM Posts: 1,593 Offline	I've tried to find some more information, as I once heard that only the red Mini (in the original movie) was actually a Cooper S, the others weren't. It doesn't make sense, and I'm trying to recall where I actually got that bit of info from.

May 13th, 2003, 08:12 PM	#8 (permalink)
NordS MINI2 Regular Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Between Swindon and Oxford Local Time: 05:21 PM Posts: 298 Offline	Some of the other threads show pictures from the film and you are quite correct. The airintake and petrol cap differences are clearly visable between the red MCS and the other coopers. I was just wondering why that is (ie if anyone knew the actual answer rather than speculation like mine!)

May 13th, 2003, 09:13 PM	#10 (permalink)
NordS MINI2 Regular Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Between Swindon and Oxford Local Time: 05:21 PM Posts: 298 Offline	Chiph, Excellent thoughts, makes sense and also allows Mini US to show off both varients for marketing purposes (and all of us to speculate on why). Like your ideas, seems that you have hit the nail on the head! :white:

May 13th, 2003, 10:52 PM	#11 (permalink)
OBXMini MINI2 Regular Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Kill Devil Hills, NC Local Time: 12:21 PM Posts: 63 Offline	Could it also have something to do with the 'water' scenes... They run these cars through some pretty deep water at high speeds - the S would suck a bunch of water in - would it not?

May 14th, 2003, 06:16 PM	#14 (permalink)
miniyoda Jedi Master Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: South of Cincinnati Local Time: 12:21 PM Posts: 263 Offline	I'm still trying to figure out something I noticed in several stills I've seen of the movie. It seems as if the cars have white roofs but black rear-view mirror caps. I thought white roofs meant white rear view mirrors Yoda IB/IB Cooper, Black Leather, every option except CVT, (plus bonnet stripes, rally lights, aero rear spoiler and floor mats).

May 14th, 2003, 09:24 PM	#15 (permalink)
acetonic MINI2 Regular Join Date: May 2002 Location: New Castle, Delaware Local Time: 01:21 PM Posts: 289 Offline	I didn't think to ask about the black mirrors. I guess someone thought it would look better on film. The mechanic mentioned that in every shot, the MINI's have all the lights on, headlights, driving lights and fogs. This was also a headache since they busted so many lights in the stunts and had to have them working again for continuity.

May 15th, 2003, 06:41 AM	#16 (permalink)
BruceK Moderator & Sponsor Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: San Antonio, Texas Local Time: 11:21 AM Posts: 3,759 Offline	I just got back from my MINI dealer where as special behing-the-scenes film of the making of the Italian Job was showing on the monitor. It's about 10-15 minutes long and even shows the driver training the actors went through before shooting. Hey that Charlize Theron can really drive! She does a way cool 360 in a MINI and without ever losing momentum, then drives off. I'm in love.... + 2002 MINI Cooper S - Dark Silver / White roof, Sport, Premium, Lapis blue leather + 1965 Mini Traveller - Tartan Red / White roof, 1275, Cooper S discs, fully restored/renewed

May 15th, 2003, 06:56 AM	#17 (permalink)
acetonic MINI2 Regular Join Date: May 2002 Location: New Castle, Delaware Local Time: 01:21 PM Posts: 289 Offline	The stunt driver told us Charlize was involved in 14 MINI's getting crashed. o_O I'm sure she's a lot better than she was before the film. But she'll have to ride shotgun in my MINI! :white:

May 15th, 2003, 07:27 AM	#18 (permalink)
BruceK Moderator & Sponsor Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: San Antonio, Texas Local Time: 11:21 AM Posts: 3,759 Offline	Quote: Originally posted by acetonic The stunt driver told us Charlize was involved in 14 MINI's getting crashed. o_O I'm sure she's a lot better than she was before the film. But she'll have to ride shotgun in my MINI! :white: In the feature about the making of the IJ, it was clear she was the best driver of all the actors. She said that when her agent was trying to arrange for her to be in the movie he was pushing to get her an automatic MINI for her role, and she was indignant about that saying (paraphrased here) "What makes people think that I can't drive just because I'm a woman?! Give me the manual transmission MINI and I'll whip those other guys!" After seeing her stunt driving, I believe her. Ahhh.... like I said: I'm in love! + 2002 MINI Cooper S - Dark Silver / White roof, Sport, Premium, Lapis blue leather + 1965 Mini Traveller - Tartan Red / White roof, 1275, Cooper S discs, fully restored/renewed

May 19th, 2003, 01:41 AM	#19 (permalink)
NordS MINI2 Regular Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Between Swindon and Oxford Local Time: 05:21 PM Posts: 298 Offline	If they gave her a automatic, she'd be pulling into a garage every five minutes for more fuel!

May 19th, 2003, 01:56 AM	#20 (permalink)
AidenL Nice TTs......... Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: On The Coast........ Local Time: 06:21 PM Posts: 42,151 Offline	Quote: Originally posted by BruceK Ahhh.... like I said: I'm in love! I always liked that woman ! Attached Thumbnails *Global Moderator*

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