FAB 1
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FAB 1 is a pink, six-wheeled car seen in the 1960s British science-fiction television series '' Thunderbirds'', its three film adaptations and its reboot, '' Thunderbirds Are Go''.


Depiction


1960s TV series and films

In the original '' Thunderbirds'' (1965–66), as well as the feature films '' Thunderbirds Are Go'' (1966) and ''
Thunderbird 6 ''Thunderbird 6'' is a 1968 British Science fiction film, science fiction puppet film based on ''Thunderbirds (TV series), Thunderbirds'', a Supermarionation television series created by Gerry Anderson, Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and filmed by ...
'' (1968), FAB 1 is depicted as a modified
Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...
. Owned by International Rescue agent
Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward is a fictional character introduced in the British 1960s Supermarionation television series '' Thunderbirds'', which was produced by AP Films (APF) for ITC Entertainment. The character also appears in the film seque ...
, the car is usually driven by her butler, Aloysius Parker. The driver sits in a central position at the front of the passenger compartment, which is covered by a bulletproof
bubble canopy A bubble canopy is an aircraft canopy constructed without bracing, for the purpose of providing a wider unobstructed field of view to the pilot, often providing 360° all-round visibility. The designs of bubble canopies can drastically vary; s ...
. FAB 1 was modified by
Brains A brain is an organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It is located in the head, usually close to the sensory organs for senses such as vision. It is the most complex organ in a v ...
, the inventor of the ''Thunderbirds'' machines, to include weaponry and gadgetry such as front- and rear-mounted machine guns (although grappling hooks are seen to shoot out of the rear in the episode "The Perils of Penelope"). The car is also equipped with a
smoke screen A smoke screen is smoke released to mask the movement or location of military units such as infantry, tanks, aircraft, or ships. Smoke screens are commonly deployed either by a canister (such as a grenade) or generated by a vehicle (such as ...
canister and oil slick dispenser, extendable tyre studs (for increased traction), and
hydrofoil A hydrofoil is a lifting surface, or foil, that operates in water. They are similar in appearance and purpose to aerofoils used by aeroplanes. Boats that use hydrofoil technology are also simply termed hydrofoils. As a hydrofoil craft gains sp ...
s and skis (for travel on water and snow).


Background

On the choice of make, series co-creator
Gerry Anderson Gerald Alexander Anderson (; 14 April 1929 – 26 December 2012) was an English television and film producer, director, writer and occasional voice artist. He remains famous for his futuristic television programmes, especially his 1960s produ ...
said: "Considering enelope'spersonality, and the role she played in International Rescue, it could only be a Rolls-Royce."
AP Films AP Films or APF, later becoming Century 21 Productions, was a British independent film production company of the 1950s until the early 1970s. The company became internationally known for its imaginative children's action-adventure marionette tel ...
(APF) approached
Rolls-Royce Limited Rolls-Royce was a British luxury car and later an aero-engine manufacturing business established in 1904 in Manchester by the partnership of Charles Rolls and Henry Royce. Building on Royce's good reputation established with his cranes, they ...
, which consented to the use of its brand. In 2004, Rolls-Royce's head of public relations in the 1960s said that the company "couldn't see any harm in PF'srequest, and as the series was aimed at children we thought it would be good for the cars – give them a modern image and, you never know, inspire a child to own one, one day." In return for its co-operation, the company asked that all on-screen references to the make of the car use the full brand name "Rolls-Royce", rather than the abbreviation "Rolls". To distinguish the look from that of real-life cars, designer
Derek Meddings Derek Meddings (15 January 1931 – 10 September 1995) was a British film and television special effects designer. He was initially noted for his work on the " Supermarionation" TV puppet series produced by Gerry Anderson, and later for the ...
gave FAB 1 a
six-wheel drive Six-wheel drive (6WD or 6×6) is an all-wheel drive drivetrain configuration of three axles with at least two wheels on each axle capable of being driven simultaneously by the vehicle's engine. Unlike four-wheel drive drivetrains, the configurat ...
. He said that his decision to place two sets of wheels at the front, instead of at the back, was motivated purely by aesthetics: "My excuse ..was that the engine was so big and powerful it needed them, but it wasn't done for any technical reason." He remembered FAB 1 for its "outrageous styling, which bore no resemblance to any Rolls-Royce ever produced". Two shooting models were built: a miniature and a puppet-size version, measuring , to accommodate the human-scale marionette characters.Bentley, p. 14. The latter – constructed from
plywood Plywood is a material manufactured from thin layers or "plies" of wood veneer that are glued together with adjacent layers having their wood grain rotated up to 90 degrees to one another. It is an engineered wood from the family of manufactured ...
, aluminium and chrome-plated brass – cost approximately £2,500 to build in 1964 (£ in ). It had fully-functional steering and headlamps with a removable canopy, doors and underside to facilitate puppet filming. The headlamps incorporated parts from bicycles. Rolls-Royce supervised the construction and supplied one of its own
radiator grille In automotive engineering, a grille covers an opening in the body of a vehicle to allow air to enter or exit. Most vehicles feature a grille at the front of the vehicle to protect the radiator and engine. Merriam-Webster describes grilles as "a ...
s (costing £100), complete with a ''
Spirit of Ecstasy ''The Spirit of Ecstasy'' is the bonnet ornament sculpture on Rolls-Royce cars. It is in the form of a woman leaning forwards with her arms outstretched behind and above her. Billowing cloth runs from her arms to her back, resembling wings. ...
'' figure. This was used for close-ups of the larger model, including shots of the car firing its machine guns and a stock photograph of the bonnet featured in the series' closing titles. As the car was the most expensive prop to be built for the series, special security measures were followed whenever it was used on set. Noting FAB 1's weaponry and gadgets,
Robert Sellers Robert Sellers (born 3 February 1965 in Leeds) is an English writer and author, known for his show-business biographies and works on popular culture including ''Cult TV'' and ''The Battle for Bond'', an analysis of the Fleming plagiarism trial ...
and Marcus Hearn liken the car to the modified
Aston Martin DB5 The Aston Martin DB5 is a British grand tourer (GT) produced by Aston Martin and designed by Italian coachbuilder Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera. Originally produced from 1963 to 1965, the DB5 was an evolution of the final series of DB4. Alt ...
driven by
James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...
in the films '' Goldfinger'' (1964) and '' Thunderball'' (1965).


2004 film

In the 2004 live-action film, '' Thunderbirds'', FAB 1 is still pink and powered by a six-wheel drive. Its glass canopy is tinted, and it is now capable of flight as well as travel on land and sea. Prior to flight, the car's
boot A boot is a type of footwear. Most boots mainly cover the foot and the ankle, while some also cover some part of the lower calf. Some boots extend up the leg, sometimes as far as the knee or even the hip. Most boots have a heel that is cle ...
panels open, exposing the
gas turbine engine A gas turbine, also called a combustion turbine, is a type of continuous flow internal combustion engine. The main parts common to all gas turbine engines form the power-producing part (known as the gas generator or core) and are, in the directi ...
; the wings then extend from the
undercarriage Undercarriage is the part of a moving vehicle that is underneath the main body of the vehicle. The term originally applied to this part of a horse-drawn carriage, and usage has since broadened to include: *The landing gear of an aircraft. *The ch ...
. During flight, the rear set of wheels folds into the main vehicle body to prevent unnecessary drag. The passenger compartment doubles as a life raft in the event of an emergency at sea, while buoyancy tanks hidden in the body panelling ensure that the compartment remains afloat after it has broken away from the rest of the vehicle.


Background

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Limited is a British luxury automobile maker which has operated as a wholly owned subsidiary of BMW AG since 2003 – as the exclusive manufacturer of ''Rolls-Royce''-branded motor cars. The company's administrative ...
and its owner BMW declined to be involved in FAB 1's re-design. This led production company
Working Title A working title, which may be abbreviated and styled in trade publications after a putative title as (wt), also called a production title or a tentative title, is the temporary title of a product or project used during its development, usually ...
to approach
Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...
, who accepted the commission and adapted the car from its eleventh-generation Thunderbird. According to Working Title's head of marketing, Rolls-Royce had pushed for the vehicle to be "one of their standard cars – and that would have been too sedate. If you're transferring something like this to the big screen, you have to make it bigger and better." He also called FAB 1 a "crazy missed marketing opportunity" for Rolls-Royce given the car's prominence in the film. Ford's designers said that due to the car's versatility, "there was a level of restriction that we had to encompass ..Then we had to identify the link with the ''Thunderbirds'' theme and, from our perspective, identify a ''T-bird'' essence that wasn't a deliberate rip-off." The finished car was fully functional and roadworthy, and appeared in a segment of the motoring TV series ''
Top Gear Top Gear may refer to: * "Top gear", the highest gear available in a vehicle's manual transmission Television * ''Top Gear'' (1977 TV series), a British motoring magazine programme * ''Top Gear'' (2002 TV series), a relaunched version of the or ...
'', during which it was road-tested by presenter
James May James Daniel May (born 16 January 1963) is an English television presenter and journalist. He is best known as a co-presenter of the motoring programme ''Top Gear (2002 TV series), Top Gear'' alongside Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond from ...
. May noted that it was not the most practical of cars, its excessive length making it difficult to drive through small English villages. Testing the car for ''
The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...
'', Ian Adcock compared the driver's section to a "command module", noting its armrest controls and "fighter aircraft-style joystick" in place of a conventional steering wheel. He also observed that the car "understeers like a yacht, so you constantly have to feed more and more lock on as you power through corners." ''
Motor Trend ''MotorTrend'' is an American automobile magazine. It first appeared in September 1949, and designated the first Car of the Year, also in 1949. Petersen Publishing Company in Los Angeles, California, Los Angeles published ''MotorTrend'' until 19 ...
'' magazine called the new FAB 1 "one of the stars of the movie" and "exquisitely executed", while '' Starburst'' described it as a "futuristic sports car which recaptures as much of the original's feel as possible." The car was negatively received by ''
XPosé ''Xposé'' is an entertainment, fashion and beauty programme that aired on Irish television from 2007 to 2019. It was broadcast every Friday at 18:00 on Virgin Media One. It ran for a 3-day week at 20:00 on Virgin Media Two (previously known ...
'' and '' SFX'' magazines; ''XPosé'' commented that FAB 1 "still look drubbish" while ''SFX'' described it as "rather ugly" and suggested that fans of the original ''Thunderbirds'' would not regard it as
canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western ca ...
. Following its appearance in the film, the car was put on display at the
Heritage Motor Centre The British Motor Museum in Warwickshire, England holds the world's largest collection of historic British cars, with over 300 cars on display from the British Motor Industry Heritage Trust and the Jaguar Heritage Trust. History The creation o ...
in
Gaydon Gaydon is a civil parish and village in Warwickshire, England, situated between Leamington Spa and Banbury. In the 2001 census, the parish had a population of 376, increasing to 446 at the 2011 Census. The village is at the junction of the ...
, Warwickshire. File:Fab1-gaydon.jpg, Top view File:FAB 1 rear-left Heritage Motor Centre, Gaydon.jpg, Side-rear view File:FAB1.jpg, At the
Goodwood Festival of Speed The Goodwood Festival of Speed is an annual motorsports festival featuring modern and historic motor racing vehicles taking part in a hillclimbing, hill climb and other events, held in the grounds of Goodwood House, West Sussex, England, in l ...
, 2004 File:Warwickshire Heritage Motor Centre 5 July 2012 P1100811 (7569723448).jpg, Interior, 2012 File:FAB 1 (23079683261).jpg, Interior close-up, 2015


''Thunderbirds Are Go'' (TV series)

In the remake series ''Thunderbirds Are Go'', FAB 1 is given a slightly different design that still retains a Rolls-Royce silhouette and is as close to a Rolls-Royce as possible without actually being one. It has the classic pink color scheme from the original, but the color is no longer solid throughout the body, as the hood and trunk covers are now a grey-silver (heavily resembling the real
Rolls-Royce Ghost The Rolls-Royce Ghost is a full-sized luxury car manufactured by Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. The "Ghost" nameplate, named in honour of the Silver Ghost, a car first produced in 1906, was announced in April 2009 at the Auto Shanghai show. The produ ...
"FAB-1" charity car). The headlights are more streamlined and the wheels are larger, though the tires are thinner. It still retains the same role it has in the original series with new features compared to its original counterpart, being capable of flying much like its live-action counterpart and can also travel under water. All machine guns have been removed, including the one in the grille, and replaced with explosives such as missiles and torpedoes but still retains the smoke screen and oil slick dispensers.


Replica cars

In 1966, a replica of FAB 1, based on a "Chinese six" (four front, two back)
Bedford VAL The Bedford VAL is a type of coach chassis that was built by Bedford in the United Kingdom from the mid-1960s to the early 1970s. It was unusual at the time for its multi-axle design, in a " chinese six" wheelplan, i.e. with two front steering ...
coach chassis, was built to transport Gerry and
Sylvia Anderson Sylvia Beatrice Anderson (; 25 March 1927 – 15 March 2016) was an English television and film producer, writer, voice actress and costume designer, best known for her collaborations with Gerry Anderson, her husband between 1960 and 1981. In a ...
to the premiere of '' Thunderbirds Are Go'' in London. Costing £10,000 (approximately £ in ), it was constructed by the company Toby Baxter Contracts in Biggleswade, Bedfordshire under Sylvia's supervision. The replica had a fibreglass body and a Bedford six-cylinder petrol engine, connected to a two-speed
Powerglide The Powerglide is a two-speed automatic transmission designed by General Motors. It was available primarily on Chevrolet from January 1950 through 1973, although some Pontiac models also used this automatic transmission after the fire at the Hyd ...
gearbox. The axles were widened to fit the width of the body, which was a steel-covered framework "moulded" with filler to simulate the angles of the vehicle as seen in the TV series and films. The wheels were supplied by
Land Rover Land Rover is a British brand of predominantly four-wheel drive, off-road capable vehicles, owned by multinational car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), since 2008 a subsidiary of India's Tata Motors. JLR currently builds Land Rovers ...
, and the aluminium bumpers by a specialist welding company. The perspex sides lifted up on screws, while the sides of the body folded out and under the vehicle to form a step. The radiator grille, which was not vertical as in standard Rolls-Royce models, was custom-built and inclined forwards at the top, complete with moveable slats and imitation machine gun. As a number plate with the registration "FAB 1" had already been issued, the replica incorporated revolving plates that showed "FAB 1" on one side and the real registration on the other. On the night of the premiere, the replica broke down after a few hundred yards and the Andersons were forced to complete the journey by taxi. Rolls-Royce were unimpressed by the car and made several attempts to buy it and have it destroyed. For a time, the company were successful in forcing the removal of the genuine Rolls-Royce grille, which was replaced with a facsimile bearing the initials "LP". After a full restoration, the vehicle was installed at the
Cars of the Stars Motor Museum A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded as t ...
in Keswick, Cumbria in 1989. Concerned that the vehicle could distract motorists and even cause traffic accidents, the local police asked the museum's owner, Peter Nelson, not to drive it on public roads. Nelson described the car as "utterly scary
o drive O, or o, is the fifteenth letter and the fourth vowel letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''o'' (pronounced ), pl ...
at any sort of speed." The car was subsequently sold to the Miami Auto Museum at the Dezer Collection in Florida (now the Orlando Auto Museum). Gerry Anderson would later commission a second full-sized FAB 1 replica. This vehicle was a modified
Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit The Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit is a full-size luxury car produced by Rolls-Royce Motors, in Crewe, England, from 1980 to 1997. It was the first model in the SZ series. The Silver Spur is a long-wheelbase version of the Silver Spirit, produced ...
, with the
bonnet A Bonnet is a variety of headgear, hat or cap Specific types of headgear referred to as "bonnets" may include Scottish * Blue bonnet, a distinctive woollen cap worn by men in Scotland from the 15th-18th centuries And its derivations: ** Fea ...
line extended to house the six-wheel drive, complemented by double
Ackermann steering The Ackermann steering geometry is a geometric arrangement of linkages in the steering of a automobile, car or other vehicle designed to solve the problem of wheels on the inside and outside of a turn needing to trace out circles of different rad ...
. It did not have the bubble canopy or centre-mounted steering of the original, and apart from the pink paint job and re-trim, the passenger compartment was stock Rolls-Royce. This model attended Anderson's funeral on 13 January 2013. The UK vehicle registration "FAB 1" was first issued in July 1946. It was later assigned to a white Jaguar XJ6 before the number was purchased by broadcaster Chris Evans in 2012 for £75,000. In 2013, the registration was temporarily assigned to a bespoke pink
Rolls-Royce Ghost The Rolls-Royce Ghost is a full-sized luxury car manufactured by Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. The "Ghost" nameplate, named in honour of the Silver Ghost, a car first produced in 1906, was announced in April 2009 at the Auto Shanghai show. The produ ...
that had been donated for use in raising breast cancer awareness.


FABs 2 and 3

''FAB 2'', Lady Penelope's private yacht, appears in the ''Thunderbirds'' episode " The Man from MI.5". At the end of the episode, it is revealed that Parker has lost the ship in a game of poker. FAB 3, Penelope's racehorse, is kept at the Ascot stables and is the winner of many
derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...
races.Bentley, p. 59.


See also


References


Works cited

* *


External links

* {{Thunderbirds Cars designed and produced for films Cars introduced in 1966 Cars with a centre driving position Fictional cars Fictional elements introduced in 1965 Fictional ships Flying cars in fiction Ford Thunderbird Rolls-Royce vehicles Six-wheeled vehicles Thunderbirds (TV series)