During my time at British Leyland, I was present at a number of new model launch events, some spectacular, some less so. The launch of the Austin Montego, seeming to float down in the darkness on a hydraulic platform and onto the stage at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes was one of the former. The unveiling of the Morris Ital at the Heathrow Penta hotel was one of the latter, although the lunch was excellent, and while the venue for the launch of BL’s collaboration with Honda, the Triumph Acclaim, was one of the vast but uninspiring halls of the NEC in Birmingham, the presentation itself was pretty incredible, with moving grandstands, cars driven under and around them accompanied by deafening music, clouds of dry ice and a dazzling lightshow.
Manufacturers often choose to introduce their cars to the world’s motoring press or their key corporate clients by flying their guests to exotic locations around the globe, putting them up in 5-star luxury hotels and giving them the keys to drive their latest creation around a – usually carefully selected – test route.
While doing some research for my Prime Find piece on the FIAT 124 Sport Spider, I came across a line that mentioned that back in 1966 when FIAT wanted to announce its replacement for the much-loved and successful 1300/1500 series, the all-new 124 saloon (with the slightly larger 125 replacing the 1500), they chose to have one dropped from a plane and then driven away. Considering what is widely believed about the supposed fragility of Italian cars, this was obviously much too far-fetched to be true, and yet, a click or three around the interweb later, there was the proof – a short video showing precisely that, and here it is:-
Now, I had hoped to be able to shed further light on how this marvellous advert came about, and some of the details behind it, but have failed to come up with anything at all except this video – which is of course in Italian, my mastery of which is limited to no more than a handful of words and phrases, like quattroporte or Mille Miglia… Nevertheless, I felt I had to share it with ViaRETRO readers – it was a new story to me and possibly to many of you, and if any of you know more about the details of this audacious stunt, please share them with us!
A particularly interesting aspect of the project is that the car has clearly been very cleverly “packaged” for its jump – ordinarily you might expect that even after a carefully managed parachute landing, it would probably be undriveable, but no – FIAT had managed to protect the car well enough so that on reaching the ground, the five parachutists that had followed its descent were able to clamber in and drive away!
Screenshots from the advert
This remarkable stunt initially put me in mind of perhaps one of the most famous film sequences ever, certainly in the almost 60-year history of the James Bond franchise. I might be overdoing the parallels a little here, but I’m thinking of the opening sequence of 1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me when Roger Moore – or more precisely, his stunt double – ski-ed off a cliff edge while escaping, and with the aid of a cleverly disguised ski-pole, shooting some of his pursuers before unfurling his Union Jack parachute (FIAT missed a trick there, not using the Italian tricolore), then landing to fight another day. Well, OK, it’s not the same, but it is fun.
However, while it might not be the case that the people behind Bond were directly influenced by the FIAT 124’s daring jump – another motor manufacturer, and a British one at that, surely took their inspiration from the Italians, although they don’t seem to have admitted it. British Leyland – yes, them again – decided it would be a cool idea for a TV spot to boost the MGB’s drooping profile in the US by dropping a “B” from a De Havilland Caribou flying at 8,000 feet above the Mojave Desert one November day in 1972, landing it in front of three rivals, these being a Datsun 240Z, a Porsche 914 and by coincidence – or not – a FIAT 124 but a Sport Spider this time, and the MG would then, just like the FIAT, be driven away by a following parachutist with the admittedly excellent punchline, “MG, still one jump ahead”.
Photos courtesy of Hegarty
It’s not clear whether FIAT tested their idea first before filming – being Italian, perhaps they just threw caution – and the little 124 – to the winds, but BL did do a test drop, and it was calamitous, as the car’s ‘chute failed to open and the first MGB to “jump” pancaked upside-down on the desert floor. Apparently the loadmaster had been so proud and certain of the quality of his rigging that he had said he was prepared to sit in the car as it made its drop…those would have been famous last words.
Second time around, the rigging did its job properly and the red MGB sailed serenely downwards, to the strains of “Rule Britannia”, landing perfectly to be triumphantly driven away ahead of its competition.
There is a full description of this fascinating story on Hagerty’s website here. Pictures also from Hagerty, and you can see a video of the advert on YouTube here:-
Interestingly, no reference is made in the Hagerty piece to the FIAT 124’s pioneering jump – maybe it was only seen in Italy? However, it’s hard to believe no-one at BL in either the UK or its US operations was aware of the Italian stunt. In any case, these were both truly bold and memorable attempts to publicise these two cars. The FIAT went on to become European Car of the Year in 1967, and for a short while, the MGB enjoyed a heightened profile in the US until it was left behind by more modern, more reliable competition. In any case, these must surely be two of the most adventurous commercials for cars ever made?
Photo and lead image courtesy of Hagerty.