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The Italian Job Secrets.
• The Drain the Mini Coopers race down is actually the Birmingham-Coventry Tithebarn Main Sewer, which was under construction at the time.
• One Mini was specially prepared for the film by B.M.C., being equipped with the BMC 1800cc B-series engine and gearbox from the 1800 'Landcrab', as the Coopers lacked sufficient torque to climb stairs.
• The car which falls off the Transporter as the Italian police attempt to move it is a Morris Oxford with a particularly nasty case of tin-worm in the sills.
• The building that the Coopers race up is the Turin Aircraft Museum. Permission for this stunt was given due to a slight mistranslation. The makers asked permission to put several cars on the building, and because car and camera both translate to the Italian word Machina. The whole sequence was shot before anybody realised that the cars were haring round the roof and the cameras were firmly on the ground.
• The Racetrack the Coopers end up on is actually at the top of the famous FIAT factory in Turin, which was hailed as a triumph of production-engineering. The whole building is a giant spiral production line. Raw materials for the cars would enter at the bottom of the building and progress up to the track at the top, where the finished car would be tested.
• The church steps the Minis slide down are right in front of the Weir that they later travel through. This can be seen quite clearly in the B&W film Mr. Bridger watches. However, the Coopers could not have come from behind the church as in the film, as it is a dead-end.
• The three Coopers hide from the Italian Police in a large garage forecourt, by parking next to a set of new Minis under a big sign which reads 'Innocenti'. Innocenti was an Italian firm bought out by BMC who used to assemble Minis for the continent. Innocenti ultimately redesigned the Mini Bodyshell to look like something similar to a FIAT Panda.
• Approximately sixteen Mini Coopers were used during filming.
• The Coopers used in the film are all MK I Minis, as can be seen by their unique 'Moustache' grill trim, sliding windows, external door hinges, early type boot locks, hinged numberplates and hook-type door handles. The hook-type door handle was changed to the unmovable type after an accident where the handle hooked under a child's rib and killed them. All the Minis featured three-point rollcages and had the back seats removed. Anyone who believes that Minis are not 'Rigid' enough should take a good look at the cars which are thrown out of the bus at the end as they roll down the mountain. If anything they are too rigid for modern crash standards, and don't crumple readily enough.
• All the Coopers used in the film were wrecked, but the Jaguar and the Aston-Martin were restored and still exist. The Jaguar E-type was the 12th ever E-Type to be built, and was originally registered as 2 BBC. It was the first ever E-type to compete in Motorsport and was re-registered as 848 CRY.
• Stock footage of all the best bits of "The Italian Job" were used in an episode of an American TV series called "McGuyver", which was made by Paramount.
• The film was promoted in the States as a Gangster movie, using a poster showing a typical thirties-style Mobster seated with a moll on his knee. As a result the film fared extremely badly. The English sense of humour apparent throughout the film probably didn't help.
• In the garage, Bill says that "Coco is having trouble with his diff", as Coco is pulled out from under the back end of the Red Cooper. As well he may be! The final differential gear housing is directly behind the engine at the Front of the car!
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