Emma Peel's Lotus

mariocki · Post by **mariocki** » Mon Jan 09, 2023 10:39 am

A few years ago, I managed to contact the owner and was amazed to be invited to view it at his home after it had been fully restored. The owner was a huge fan of Elans (he had several others on display, including one that had been owned by Peter Sellers) and The Avengers, so it had always been his ambition to combine his two passions and own one of the original Avengers cars.

Two things that stand out from my visit were that the car had only done 2500 miles since new and also that the owner had recognised from watching the series - even before heâ€™d bought the car - that one of the pistons had seized while it was being filmed. We managed to determine that the episode where it was most apparent was The See Through Man where a puff of blue smoke can be seen as the car approaches Edge Grove School:

Sure enough, when the car arrived from America he found that one of them had indeed seized and had probably been that way since 1966! We chatted for a while and I was able to help confirm, with aid of some blu-ray screengrabs I had with me, that the seats were originals - something heâ€™d been concerned about.

A couple of shots I took of the car:

Frankymole · Post by **Frankymole** » Mon Jan 09, 2023 12:46 pm

A shame he's selling it really, clearly a lot of love for it there.

mousemeat · Post by **mousemeat** » Mon Jan 09, 2023 3:23 pm

Frankymole wrote:A shame he's selling it really, clearly a lot of love for it there.

true...looking at it, it sorta reminds me of a triumph..especially the interior..much nicer than the MG's of the era. how long did Diana own
it ?

Post by **Allard** » Mon Jan 09, 2023 10:09 pm

The auction pictures give an impression of an altered colour paint on the car.

Frankymole · Post by **Frankymole** » Mon Jan 09, 2023 11:45 pm

Andrew Pixley wrote:
mousemeat wrote:I do believe it was the first UK series picked up for U.S. broadcast...
I've never got around to checking in detail, but I think that "The Vise" was picked up by ABC before CBS got "... Robin Hood". I've got a long term background project about the history of ITC (and ITP before it) underway, and it's one of the things that I want to get to the bottom of. But there British pilots being shot for series to be made in the US at the very start of the 1950s.

All the best

Andrew

That's exciting to know! I've often wondered about the precursors of ITC, its relationship with Sapphire Films and the like.

mousemeat · Post by **mousemeat** » Tue Jan 10, 2023 1:07 am

Frankymole wrote:
Andrew Pixley wrote:
mousemeat wrote:I do believe it was the first UK series picked up for U.S. broadcast...
I've never got around to checking in detail, but I think that "The Vise" was picked up by ABC before CBS got "... Robin Hood". I've got a long term background project about the history of ITC (and ITP before it) underway, and it's one of the things that I want to get to the bottom of. But there British pilots being shot for series to be made in the US at the very start of the 1950s.

All the best

Andrew
That's exciting to know! I've often wondered about the precursors of ITC, its relationship with Sapphire Films and the like.

That could very well be...I'll check that out..and see if that's true..

Andrew Pixley · Post by **Andrew Pixley** » Tue Jan 10, 2023 6:26 am

mariocki wrote:A couple of shots I took of the car:

What wonderful photos! Many thanks!

All the best

Andrew

Andrew Pixley · Post by **Andrew Pixley** » Tue Jan 10, 2023 6:33 am

Frankymole wrote:That's exciting to know! I've often wondered about the precursors of ITC, its relationship with Sapphire Films and the like.

Well... I'm having to un-learn a lot of stuff that I've learned over the last 40 years. I'd always naively thought that ITC basically began in 1955 with "The Adventures of Robin Hood" and ended in 1981 with "Shillingbury Tales"... but in fact ITC doesn't even exist yet in 1955 and in terms of adventure series alone, they're still making "The Big Easy" in 1997...

... And I'd also always assumed that ITP - part of what became ITC - basically made filmed material for ATV... but, no, they were doing live sitcoms for A-R, filmed variety for NBC, live variety for ABC... even sports coverage! Yes... lots and lots and lots to unpack and learn all over again, which is rather fun to be honest.

All the best

Andrew

Andrew Pixley · Post by **Andrew Pixley** » Tue Jan 10, 2023 6:39 am

mousemeat wrote:That could very well be...I'll check that out..and see if that's true..

If you get anywhere with this, it'd be fascinating. The Danziger TV series still baffle me a bit because they're offered in different packages, but I'm pretty sure that the 1954/5 series is shot in England. But there's certainly syndicated stuff before that. Talking Pictures recently screened one of the three pilot episodes from an anthology called "The Eyes" made at Merton Park Studios in January 1951, and I know that that aired on some stations in syndication a few months later.

All fascinating stuff! Always keen to read about it.

All the best

Andrew

mariocki · Post by **mariocki** » Tue Jan 10, 2023 8:19 pm

Allard wrote:The auction pictures give an impression of an altered colour paint on the car.

Thatâ€™s unfortunate as the owner spared absolutely no expense in the restoration process - including matching the paint to the 1966 palette - right down to ensuring that the correct model of radio with red cord was fitted in the glovebox.