Steve 82 Posted December 2, 2008 Share Posted December 2, 2008 Trying to establish some more post-war details about my 1945 Kubelwagen. From the previous owner, I understand it was brought to the UK during the late 40`s / early 1950`s and sold to a vehicle provider to the film industry by the name of Babtis/ Baylis ?? (a company, based in London which apparently proided many of the German vehicles to British post-war made ww2 movies). Have no positive indication which films it was used in, although a couple of titles were mentioned. Unfortunatly, Babtis had up to 10 or more Kubels at their peak and it would be difficult confirming this without records made at the time. The company eventually broke up sometime during the 80`s due to the death of the original owner and the collection sold-off. The guy I aquired e vehicle from then purchased the vehicle in the mid 1990`s and jointly restored it, whereupon it played in several TV films - including `Island at War` and `Hitlers Britain` (have unrefutable evidence of that) I then aquired the vehicle in 2005 - and had to rebuild most of the mechanicals due to it never having not been restored / registered for road use post war. The VW factory at Wolfsburg helped with documetation here. Finally, I registered the vehicle in 2007, and am just getting used to using it on a regular basis. Just out of curiosity, has anyone any knowledge of the film company `Babtis`in London ?? Regards Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garys39 Posted December 2, 2008 Share Posted December 2, 2008 Hi Steve I think the company was Bapty & Co, a friend of mine bought (through a 3rd party) a Kubel that also came from this sell off of vehicles. Regards Gary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mungaman Posted December 2, 2008 Share Posted December 2, 2008 Hi i lived just round the corner from baptys storage yard !! They had the only surviving jeep tank /a canadian project/interesting !! Mark dineley was the owner /jim dowdall was one of the drivers /recently on milweb selling a jeep trailer i .think. West sussex area/good luck !!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve 82 Posted December 2, 2008 Author Share Posted December 2, 2008 thanks guys - will try to follow up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashley Posted December 2, 2008 Share Posted December 2, 2008 Hi very nice Kubel :thumbsup: even nicer with out SS number plates and spurious "Normandy Camo" Ashley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest catweazle (Banned Member) Posted December 2, 2008 Share Posted December 2, 2008 /jim dowdall was one of the drivers /quote] Jim is/was stunt man was in many of the old films. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryH57 Posted December 3, 2008 Share Posted December 3, 2008 "Hi very nice Kubel even nicer with out SS number plates and spurious "Normandy Camo" I agree - and for a 1945 vehicle it is very likely that there was very little camo paint left in Germany for non-armoured fighting vehicles, as suggested by photographic evidence Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlienFTM Posted December 3, 2008 Share Posted December 3, 2008 According to my sources (which are buried deep and not seen for 20 years), B vehicles weren't normally expected to use cam paint anyway ... or carry Balkankreuz or callsign, just unit tac sign. Doesn't mean it didn't happen but that was the spec I have read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony B Posted December 3, 2008 Share Posted December 3, 2008 ISLAND AT WAR!!!!!!! The only !"££$%&&*() thing they got right was the second world war happned!!!. :argh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve 82 Posted January 8, 2009 Author Share Posted January 8, 2009 Hi All, I managed to contact Jim Dowdall who confirmed that all the Baptys Kubels took part in the 'Dirty Dozen' and ' It happened Here'. The lack of records will almost certainly prevent linking my vehicle to any other Baptys films, but its a big help nevertheless. So thanks guys for the lead, and of course - to Jim. Cheers Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackpowder44 Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 I suspect that I am the person mentioned as having bought a lot of Baptys and Co. vehicles in the 1980s. Amongs the ones I bought were two kubles, two schwimmers. Keven Wheatcroft bought 1 Schwimmer and one Kuble. The other kuble went to a person in Gloucestershire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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