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19 September 2006

First day of issue: Polizeiabschnitt / Open day of Berlin Police

Clicking 2x will do very nice things.

This is the way the Artist/Kunstler from the Wedding neighborhood of Berlin DE sent these dreamy stamps to me, so this is the way Vleeptron is displaying them.

If you have a problem with this, then stand on your head.

Uwe Bressem has recently begun an art project intended to improve relations between the community and the police officers who maintain safety in the community.

I am guessing the motorcycle is a BMW (Bayerische MotorWerke?). Bob drove a Triumph himself.

Selvedge Addendum:

Polizeivignette / Police scene
Entwurf und Idee: U. Bressem 2006

A bear is the symbol of Berlin's coat of arms, and seems to be a pun/Wortspeil from the word for bear, Bär, or little bear, Bärlein.

BMW was a one-year-old manufacturer when it re-named itself Bayerische Motoren Werke GmbH in 1917, building engines for military aircraft during World War One at Oberwiesenfeld airfield in München / Munich, Bayern / Bavaria. Motorcycle production began in 1923, and re-started after World War Two in 1948.

In "The Great Escape," Steve McQueen steals a BMW R71 motorcycle.

Copyright (c) 2006 by Uwe Bressem, All Rights Reserved.

5 comments:

U.B. said...

Dear Bob,
it is a BMW R/25 One cylinder built in 1953.120km/h maximum speed.One driver.

Vleeptron Dude said...

Translating for the metric-impaired:

120 kilometers/hour = 74.56 miles/hour

That's a very peachy looking bike. I tend to insult BMWs and accuse them of being big overbuilt tanks compared to my beloved Triumph 1969 650cc Bonneville ("World's Fastest Production Motorcycle," said the decal on the front forks). But this is a very elegant-looking motorcycle.

I hope I got everything else fairly right. You know my deutsches ist nicht so gut. dialekt: Eisenbahnundwurstdeutsches

Please buy and eat a Wurst for me at Zoostation.

What town were you nearest in Dansk? So I can find where you were on the map.

Vleeptron Dude said...

Danmark i mean. Dansk is what they speak.

I like Tivoli a lot, I got to watch the most beautiful Commedia del'Arte there with Harlequin and Columbine. Then I bought a ticket to the Fun House. But after I was locked in the car, I discovered I had bought a ticket to the Roller Coaster. I hate Roller Coasters. My Dansk is worse than my deutsches.

U.B. said...

Hi Bob,
we were near Esbjerg in Hjerting.

Vleeptron Dude said...

Hiya Faraon! Who are you, where are you, what are you, what motorcycle do you ride?

Steve McQueen made lots of Romantic Movies and as an actor expressed his love for beautiful women very effectively.

But I never saw him show True Love the way he showed it when he first climbed on the stolen German Army motorcycle. I'm guessing it broke his heart when the producers insisted that a stunt double do all those spectacular motorcycle stunts.

And guess what??? It wasn't a BMW!

from "Steve McQueen Online":

==============

For the filming of the climactic scene in The Great Escape in which Steve (as Virgil Hilts) hijacks a German warbike and becomes the center of one of cinema's most famous chase scenes, a little bit of improvising was done, as explained by Steve to writer William Nolan:

"We had four bikes for this film. I was running a TT Special 650 Triumph. We painted it olive drab and put on a luggage rack and an old seat to make it look like a wartime BMW. We couldn't use a real BMW, not at the speeds we were running, since those old babies were rigid-frame jobs, and couldn't take the punishment."

The camera tricks didn't end there though. Steve's riding was too fast for the German stuntmen chasing him, so to solve the problem, Steve doubled for his pursuers as well, effectively chasing himself on camera!

The Triumphs ridden by Steve in the film were decked out and provided by Steve's friend and ofttimes stunt double Bud Ekins.