by Alice Scarsi
Unique mobile cinema is up for grabs on eBay
The last British 1960s mobile cinema is set to be sold on eBay for a starting price of £120,000.
The vehicle, a Bedford SB3 bus with a towed caravan, represents a piece of British history, as it is the last survivor of a fleet of seven mobile cinemas that the Ministry of Technology commissioned back in 1967 to move from factory to factory to promote through films the modern production techniques that the British industry was starting to adopt.
History, though, has not being kind with the bus as, after being dismissed by the government in 1990, it has been separated by the caravan it once towed and left tofend for itself in a field in Essex for 14 years. The condition in which the current owners, Emma Giffard, 36, and Ollie Halls, 37 of the Vintage Mobile Cinema Company, found it when they bought it for about £1,500 in 2005 was simply disastrous. “The engine was seized, the breaks were seized, so it was a mess,” remembers Ollie.
The vintage vehicle enthusiasts from Somerset spent five years and £35,000 in order to restore it completely and bring it back to its glorious splendour. Now this vehicle is in more than just roadworthy condition: thanks to the work done by the couple, it’s a piece of vintage art that mirrors its history – with 22 1930-style tiered cinema seats, a plastic Perspex bubble at the front and Tardis-like interiors which reflect the decade it was built in – but it’s also combined with the latest technological devices, such as a full HD digital projection unit with 7.1 Dolby surround sound, complemented by sound proofing fitted to limit external disturbances.
During the last five years the Bedford has become a real star. It has starred in different TV shows, including the second season of George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces and in the 20-part BBC2 series The Reel History of Britain, and has also been used as a touring cinema, shown in different exhibitions and event and even been on tours of France and Holland.
The fame gained by the bus also helped it to be reunited with the other original piece – the caravan it originally towed.
“We got a phone call out the blue,” Ollie told the Daily Mail. “Someone saw us on the news and realised that the trailer their friend had been using as a woodwork shop belonged with our cinema. It’s taken a few years but we’ve finally put them back together.”
Exactly this new, exciting restoration project brought the couple to the decision to sell the bus: “It’s a huge restoration which I don’t think I want to do because I have a number of other projects that I’m hoping to work on,” Ollie continued.
“We’ve just bought our first house in Somerset which is a restoration project and I’ve also got a 1940s caravan and another 1960s Bedford truck to work on. I’m the kind of guy who likes a challenge but I feel like the bus is done now and I want to work on something new – I’ve been doing it most of my adult life. They drive beautifully together but the trailer is another restoration project – maybe this time for someone else.”
Moreover, the couple has two children, and wants to spend more time with them. “We’ve got two children under three,” Emma said.
“Sometimes my mother-in-law comes along and looks after the kids on whatever event site we’re on but it’s getting to be too hard with the two of them getting bigger. I’ll miss being on the road and that diversity but if I didn’t give it up, I’d miss my children growing up and spending social time with them which is more important than the bus,” she added.
“It was never meant to be a career,” went on Ollie. “I just started doing it up as a hobby and it got out of control. I was working full time and spending all my spare time and spare money on the bus, lying in the mud in a freezing cold shed wondering if I’d gone mad.
“But people just loved everything about it, which made all the blood, sweat and tears worthwhile. They don’t make things like this anymore, and it speaks to people’s sense of nostalgia.”
“It was so popular that it absolutely and 100 per cent took over my life – and it’s been hard to give up to because so many people still want the bus,” he concluded.
Emma and Ollie are hoping that the next owner will keep sharing the bus with other Britons as they did during the years: “It could go any which way – a collector in this country or abroad, someone wanting to run the business, or a group putting together a bid to bring it into a trust.
“I really want it to continue to be out there for people to be able to carry on sharing the experience. But we have to decide what route is going to best secure its future, because it’s completely unique and owning it means that we’re custodians of that little bit of history,” said Ollie.
Are you interested in owning a piece of British history? With the two vehicles also come the logo, image rights, goodwill of the business and all website, social media accounts and anything related to the Vintage Mobile Cinema business.
If you fancy trying your luck and placing a bid on the mobile cinema, click here.
