With two engines kicking a guaranteed 5.3 on
the Richter scale according to the cartoon. In real life, the replica
can’t even race a real supercar.
All Rights Reserved to Caprino Filmcenter Studios
Detailwork on the Exhaust system of the showcar built by the Studio. Scaled from a photo by Jechstra on Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Cartoon Jalopy FUN!
It is a dream car of sorts for Norwegians—Il Tempo Gigante is a full scale replica of the car featured in the children’s stop-motion animation movie, Pinchcliffe Grand Prix by Ivo Caprino. This steampunk jalopy is the most famous movie car from the Land of the Midnight Sun.
Il Tempo Gigante is that perfect 50s gangster car souped up with an engine from the nightmare minds of Norwegian tinkers. Like a spooked-out rig like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang gangster cars.
The movie is about an old Norwegian cycle repair man, inventor Reodor Felgen living on a distant mountain top in Norway. Together with his two helpers, a pessimistic hedgehog, Ludvig and a cheerful crow, Solan. Suddenly supported by funding from a rich Arabian sheik, he builds the racing car to end all racing cars: Il Tempo Gigante!
How can anyone in the world not know this car?
The cartoon was released in 1975 and is based on characters from a series of books by Norwegian cartoonist and author Kjell Aukrust. The family that made the hit movie also made a full-size working version of the stop-motion animated car, and it’s a hit wherever it goes!
Film lore has it that George Lucas used the race scene from this movie as an inspiration for the StarWars Pod race.
The full-scale replica of the Gigante measures 6.70 metres, or a trifle over 22 feet, from cranking handle to exhaust pipe, and has a beam of 2.48 metres (8 feet). Built in its entirety at the Caprino Filmcenter studios in Norway, it took 12 months to put together, and was carried out under the vigilant eye of the Ministry of Transport inspectors, so that the finished article satisfied all safety regulations. The replica Gigante is licensed as a veteran car.
Rear engine gewgaws and propped tubing on showcar. Scaled from a photo by Jechstra on Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
This beautiful replica weighs some 6000 pounds, and accelerates from 0 to 100 km an hour in just about 6 seconds. It cost a fortune to build it.
Reodor the bicycle repairman and his assistants, Ludwig the hedgehog, and Solan the crow
All Rights Reserved to Caprino Filmcenter Studios
If Norwegians can make a jalopy look this precious, wait til they see the best of Filipino Jeepney pimp. Maybe it isn’t too late for local builders to have something as rude as this swagger around Manila. Even a traffic jam would be tolerable if it were a “Wacky Races” logjam.
A racing car to end all racing cars should always look like this in real life. Not just in children’s cartoons.
