The conclusion to the film has our heros taking out the ambulance’s spark plugs, engaging reverse in a low box and turning the engine over on the starting handle to inch the vehicle up a sand dune.

Would it work?

Not up that dune!

good film any way

As the film is pre cgi it must…

I’ve actualy moved a 2CV (with the plugs still in) about 150m up a muddy lane after it broke down, using that method. I was unable to push it on my own, this method worked, but took the skin off my hands! Got the idea from the film.

It does work, you just have to watch it about 2/3rds of the way up, if you let go of the handle it’ll spin round really fast and roll back down, then you’ll have to start again.

http://www.open2.net/sciencetechnologynature/maths/icecoldinalex.html

i cranked an Impreza up a pair of Wheel ramps with a ratchet on the drive shaft pulley when I realized I needed to get under the car with it half dismantled. Worked a treat.

I think they’ve guessed at the figures on that link.
That looks like a 10:00×16 tyre, which would be 36″, or about 1000mm, in diameter.
Reverse gear on a Land Rover is about 50:1, on an AEC Matador it’s about 80:1, so the Austin would probably be somewhere between the two, say, 60:1.
So that’s double the tyre diameter and double the gearing reduction.
The two cancel each other out, so overall, I’d say they’ve got the final result right.

I’ve had a flat battery on a Land Rover parked just off a track on a slope.
I used the starting handle to wind it the short distance up to the track so I could bump start it down the hill.
Only a short distance and not much of a slope, but it worked.

Back in 1979 i started as as apprentice motor mechanic in a big Leeds garage, one of the guys there was Ex Long Range Desert Group, he used to do this all the time when shifting cars about in the bays etc, not long distance stuff, he was asked about this film and said it would work but the number of cranking handles you would need would be enormous especially when taking a truck up the soft sand. Look at the stress on the handle above, not too hefty, great film though.

I work in Libya now where the film was made and have visited the sites, Tobruk and Benghazi etc,you can still see the trenches and emplacements however the lads and lasses who died for the place would turn in their graves if they could see the toilet they have let it become over here, two and a half years of fighting for the Port of Tobruk and last time i was there only 2 decent sized vessels in the port. 🙁

Whilst we are on about the film, can anyone explain what the ‘spy’ was hoping to gain by constantly radioing back to whoever, and what was he going to do once he got to Alex undetected?

I mean he could of gone back to his lot on two occasions, I just can’t think what he had to gain on an ambulance running away from Gerry.
Cheers.

He was updating his handlers on the current situation he was involved in, there were more than one spy operating so if there were numerous reports coming in the higher command could get a bigger picture, he was reporting on sites like the fuel dump in the oasis etc which are all vital when an advance is on, did the woman not let the ambulance run away. ??

Yes, from what I remember of the film, she let go of the handle and it rolled back down the hill.
Leaving the plugs in would have made it harder to turn the handle, but the engine braking would have stopped it rolling away.
Having two people on standby with chocks would have done the same job.

I forgive her, she was a cutey.

Seen as i am sat here at work in Libya doing the square root of nothing as the locals have the day off for New Year !!!!! anyone remember the other film ‘The Hill” , i think that was over here in North Africa, when i was in the Army a mate of mines Dad was sent to the prison with the Hill back in the 60s because he doned diving gear and swam out to the US Flagship that was moored in the Gibralter harbour, climbed the anchor chain and robbed the Stars and Stripes, admitted to it the next day and did 28 days on the hill, said it was a good workout until you collapsed then the fun went out of it !!!

Sorry for the hijack.

Thanks anokdale, I had thought about that, but seeing as he was picked up at one of dumps I had assumed he was aware of them…
But now you say it then it kind of makes sense.
Cheers.

Dunno about the cranking bit, but I’ve sunk a few pints at the bar in the Cecil hotel where the closing scenes for the film were made 😀

D.

she was a cutey.

And being the only women out in the desert with a load of men, that might explain why they had to resort to “hand cranking”.