Mobile Cinema Van
I missed last month’s Encounters short-film and animation festival and have spent some time over this weekend catching up on some of the productions that were shown at it. If you have a spare few minutes, I highly recommend a quick look at some of work on the site and I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on the festival next year. But one thing that I noticed whilst on the site was link to vintage mobile cinema, which I presume was hired as one of the festival’s venues.
I was pretty taken with the sumptuous late 1960′s styling and that nautical modernist viewing bubble above the driver’s cab and so I decided to follow it up with a wee bit of research. It turns out that these mobile cinemas are now sadly very rare and I understand that this particular van is the only one which remains intact (and active) of the original seven vehicles. Originally commissioned by the British Government under the auspice of the Ministry of Technology the fleet was built to incorporate a sort of rudimentary presentation theatre and where the delegates could promote new ventures in British Industry on a kind of road tour.
The trucks were based on a Bedford chassis and it appears they were designed to be fitted with coachworks that were engineered by Coventry Steel Caravans – hence the vague horse-box/caravan feel. But these really were quite unique in that they were designed with the interior in mind as a driver to the overall design. I absolutely adore the chrome edging and subtle curves that adorn the front of the cab and I can’t think what possible practical use that bubble would serve other than to give the vehicle a futuristic twist. I can’t help wondering how I would feel if the government built a fleet like this now to promote industry. Would we cynically write it off as a waste of taxpayer’s money or would we embrace it as a piece of progressive design. I think it would sadly be the former in these times of austerity and I’m not totally convinced the design would be anything nearly as exceptional as this.
The Vintage Mobile Cinema company have struggled to restore this genuine piece of British transport heritage and they’ve made a very fine job of it too. Nip over to their site to read some more about their project or maybe even how you can hire it to show a film.