CondorMan

[fastdub]

Anyone remember it ?



Frank Spencer played a comic book artist I think and he somehow got recruited into being a spy. he then proceeded to pootle around in the, frankly unimpressive, CondorMobile. Which I'm assuming is a beetle based Nova kit car style affair.

More impressive were the gaggle of black porsches that chase him through some swiss or italian scenary. They were led by some slope 935 thing, might have been real, who knows.




i524.photobucket.com/albums/cc324/PhunkyStamos/26066370055_large.jpg
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I know for a fact that they wreck the 4 regular porsche all sporting Gotti split rims too

I loved it as a kid and I even recall, I'm told in Basingstoke, being at a cinema and they were showing the condorman car off. I was chosen to go in it and taken for a whirl for photos with the local paper but I was too frightened so they chose some other child. Gutted

On a side note ithink my favorite use of a beetle based things must be the Durango 95



Only cos it purrs away real horrorshow like

[Ray Singh]

Fantastic film. I watched that car chase again and again like a porno.
Those black Porsches were what got me interested in the German marque to start with.

The 911s were defo real, the 935 in not so sure about. The radar on the roof of the 935 was quite comical too.

[fastdub]

the radar was real...

[koma]

downloaded it a few months ago after remembering it randomly , felt like i was 6 again . love the film and the cars

[jrevillug]

Apr 27, 2010 8:53:14 GMT fastdub said:

On a side note ithink my favorite use of a beetle based things must be the Durango 95



Only cos it purrs away real horrorshow like

This wasn't a VW - it was an Imp-based Probe 16.

www.imps4ever.info/specials/centaur/durango.html
www.imps4ever.info/specials/centaur/probe/probe16.html
www.imdb.com/title/tt0066921/trivia?tr0734611

[Mystery Machine]

The Porsches look more like Covin's to me. Front air dams, interior, large amounts of tuck on the rear, suspension height, wheel choice etc...all point towards the VW aircooled kitcar more than the real thing. They just don't look 'right' which is normally a good indicator that they aren't right.

Covin's were commonly seen on Revo 5 spoke wheels (or Revo copies??) which looks like the same wheels as the ones in the shots above:

[fastdub]

ive let myself down

[Tim]

thats a bloody good kit car (the covins!)

i suppose if you use one of these as a donor, it does answer the old adage of "a porsche engine will go straight into a beetle" :-)

[fastdub]

ive had a right good look and the front airdams on a few look well shonky so I'm inclined to beleive covin's and the 935 looks really poor. wheelswise they're are all running what looks like 5 spoke revo split rims.

[bm0p700f]

I remember that film and being fanscinated with it when I was around 7. That takes me back.

[gotwood]

I remember going to see the film at the Windsor cinema in Neath ( now sadly demolished ) , the Condormobile comes out from underneath and old Gypsy wagon camper van type thing IIRC ? There's pics on the IMCDB website .
As has already been said the Durango 45 is Imp based , and Corgi toys made two different sized toy versions of the Probe 16 on which it was based .
On a side note , HMV have got Condorman on DVD in the childrens section , I found it the other day lol

[mrzee]

It's funny, I was just thinking about this movie a couple of weeks ago. I have never been a big Porsche fan however I have fond memories of Ollie Reed with his stainless steel eye. Those porsche/covins do look the dogs danglies though in my opinion.

[fastdub]

sadly your jaded memories are failing you as ollie reed's henchman was the one with the metal eye.

class film in its own way.

[mrzee]

hmmm, well I've just managed to get hold of a copy so I shall watch it tomorrow and relive my childhood

[skinnylew]

Me and my brothers used to love watching this on video as kids!!! Brilliant film lol

[optima21]

makes you laugh when you think of Frank Spencer as a superhero

[garethj]

Apr 27, 2010 12:23:11 GMT Mystery Machine said:

The Porsches look more like Covin's to me.

Did Covins exist back then? And did they sell them in the US?

Tarted up early 911s is my guess, lashings of fibreglass and filler.

Anyone know what Condorman's car was?
EDIT: imcdb.com says it's a Nova Sterling

[boxofsorrows]

Condorman's car was a modified Sterling Nova. Running a Porsche engine on VW beetle chassis and gearbox. Lack of view out of the rear meant that the guy put in a camera system to see out of the back of the car. It was brought into Newcastle-upon-Tyne (UK) for the Press showing of the film back in (I think 1981?) at the Odeon cinema on Pilgrim Street. At that time my (late) father was the Chief Projectionist at the cinema and I was lucky enough to get to sit in the car and ask the poor guy endless questions about it. Not sure where the car is these days. When it was brought into Newcastle, the police apparently stopped the car because they thought it might not be road legal (it was!). I do remember it was extremely LOUD!

Here's a, very young me (10 or 11yrs old at the time) with the car.



Was quite lucky as a kid, the cinema had a few fun things in over the year, one of the VW Beetles from the Love Bug was there, it was placed on the old riser for the Wurlitzer organ so that for the Saturday Matinee of the film the car could be raised up through the stage :-) They also had the bike from Silver Dream Racer, I've a pic somewhere of my dad sat on that.

[grifterkid]

I've never seen this film but I now have to check it out as it sounds uniquely ace!!!

^^^^I like the sound of that cinema, it sounds like it got a great deal of special attention in terms of film promotion! Awesome!!!

[r1173]

I remember seeing it in Darwin at the RAAF Base, October '81, while on holiday. Blew me away. Growing up, the only movie to eclipse it was Back To The Future.