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Post by Go Slideways on Jun 10, 2020 1:04:39 GMT 12
Shortly before Charlie Bernsten passed away I spent an enjoyable afternoon with him and we video'd an interview and he also gave me a tour of his sheds and we went through a lot of his memorabilia together.
Part of his collection was these pics of his coffin stunt that didn't end well.
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Post by brendanlucas on Jun 10, 2020 6:39:04 GMT 12
I know I shouldn't be laughing, but this video had me smiling most the way through & I'm sure Charle's with his limited sense of humour would have thought the same. Well done Pete on this. Big tick....
BL
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Post by screaminV8 on Jun 10, 2020 20:34:34 GMT 12
Very nice video! But now I am going to have that catchy song in my head for days!!
So what was the coffin stunt? Was the Toyota meant to miss it, or push it round the track? Or somehow bunny hop over it?,
!? 😀😀
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Post by Go Slideways on Jun 10, 2020 22:35:43 GMT 12
Very nice video! But now I am going to have that catchy song in my head for days!! So what was the coffin stunt? Was the Toyota meant to miss it, or push it round the track? Or somehow bunny hop over it?, !? 😀😀 "SOOTHE ME" by Sam & Dave brendanlucas might be able to explain a bit, the intention was to smash the coffin but not Charlie I think  |
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Post by screaminV8 on Jun 10, 2020 23:04:22 GMT 12
Jeepers that sounds like a slightly optimistic outcome!
Be interested to see if B.L. or anyone can shed any further light on it.
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Post by brendanlucas on Jun 11, 2020 18:50:41 GMT 12
The background on this stunt.... I'm not exactly the best one to tell the story because I was by now living in Palmy North as a school kid & as I recall this meeting was on a week night, I wasn't actually there. But....., I got the full story enough times from Charles to know enough.
Charles always wanted to do this coffin stunt, it had been rattling around in his head for a few years prior, & he harped and harped at Roy Eaton to allow him to allow him to do it and Roy finally got sick of him going on about it, which put everything in motion.
The idea was to have Charles placed inside the coffin, have the new Toyota do a lap allowing Charles to escape before the car ran him over, thats what the crowd were told anyway. In actual fact, there was a hidden ramp inside the coffin that would take the cars weight, allowing the car to run the coffin over. While the car circulated, also unbeknown to the crowd, Charles stripped off bare naked except for a wig, & he would do a streak to the pits after everyone thought he had been ran over. Great idea.
Problem was, he got his underwear caught around his ankle whilst trying to get undresses, which forced hi knee to be exposed above the ramp line, and when the car hit the coffin it took Charle's knee cap clean off - which is what you see in the photo when he was lying naked on the track, with a wig on & holding his knee.
He spent ~ 3 months in hospital (him & Scrooge Hammond where in there at the same time, bit of a nightmare for hospital staff, particularly if you were female) & only began walking after 6 months. He did quite well out of American Combined, become there poster boy.
Never a dull moment with Charle's, sort of thing that in this world we now live in some would not believe happened, but yes it did.
BL
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Post by brendanlucas on Jun 11, 2020 18:52:15 GMT 12
BTW, the knee cap was found several days later in the spring of the Toyota...
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Post by midway on Jun 11, 2020 20:56:13 GMT 12
History repeats itself ,,like father ,like son ,you have made me more happier than Gordons Gin Bottle  |
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craigmcl
Full Member
The only man who got his work done by Friday....was Robinson Crusoe
Posts: 181
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Post by craigmcl on Jun 12, 2020 10:57:58 GMT 12
I seem to recall Waikaraka did a stunt with a coffin where a celebrity, I think it was a rugby player, got blown up in a coffin along the front straight. They had to resuscitate him. Perhaps someone can confirm or tell me I was dream'n and I'll shut up |
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Post by hienekenno1 on Jun 12, 2020 11:26:00 GMT 12
If i remember rightly Radio Hauraki DJ Kevin Black ab saled down one of the light towers at Waikaraka and did himself a leg injury,think it was in the early 80s.
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Post by Go Slideways on Jun 12, 2020 15:00:59 GMT 12
When I was about 13 in 1977 there was a guy called Jose Kanga and the French Hell Drivers who did a show at Manfeild and then came to Palmy on the Saturday night, they went over some ramps and drove the cars along the track for a bit on its side on 2 wheels. I think they were Torana's.
Also this guy called Peter Bell did the odd stunt back then.
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Post by brendanlucas on Jun 12, 2020 18:21:30 GMT 12
When I was about 13 in 1977 there was a guy called Jose Kanga and the French Hell Drivers who did a show at Manfeild and then came to Palmy on the Saturday night, they went over some ramps and drove the cars along the track for a bit on its side on 2 wheels. I think they were Torana's. Also this guy called Peter Bell did the odd stunt back then. Interesting you mentioned the French Hell Drivers. Another bit of useless information, Charlie supplied many of the cars for these guys, & he also travelled around with them & was a small part of there act. His coffin stunt I think was done later that same year, or possibly early 1978. Anyway, I can't yack all day, I've got some monuments to pull down - monuments that have taken many kiwi lives, Yep, I'm gonna have a go at the golden arches & maybee KFC monuments. BL |
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Post by Go Slideways on Jun 12, 2020 22:12:22 GMT 12
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Post by midway on Jun 13, 2020 21:26:07 GMT 12
B.L. will end up being a monument himself ,a chicken bone ,in a seagulls beck with the Golden Archers still remembered the most . |
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Post by midway on Jun 14, 2020 9:16:24 GMT 12
If i remember rightly Radio Hauraki DJ Kevin Black ab saled down one of the light towers at Waikaraka and did himself a leg injury,think it was in the early 80s. Are you sure it was Kevin Black ,I didnt think he would of met the requirements of Spiderman ..with one of his legs .. |
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Post by brendanlucas on Jun 14, 2020 11:09:11 GMT 12
B.L. will end up being a monument himself ,a chicken bone ,in a seagulls beck with the Golden Archers still remembered the most . I'm honoured you think there will be some sort of monument to me, especially one that will attract birds thereby generate effluent for eternity (or at least until someone thinks it needs to be pulled down. No need for any such monument however, I'm happy for my ashes to be scattered over the bike seats at Girls High School just before the bell rings. BL |
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Post by Go Slideways on Jun 20, 2020 4:33:56 GMT 12
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