BRIXMIS Opel Senator

[Royal]

Saw the other Opel thread and thought of this.

BRIXMIS 1 is at the National Army Museum in Chelsea and well worth a look.

http://www.bunkertours.co.uk/BRIXMIS.htm










BRIXMIS with the G-Wagen fleet in Berlin in 1989



BRIXMIS 4 at Brandenburg gate in 1961 for the VW freaks out there.
[IMG][/IMG]

And for the Range Rover freaks



"Tourist" sweatshirt logo







Up, up and away...

all from www.brixmis.co.uk

[Brixmis]

Thanks Royal

reminds me of a show I once saw they had an ex BRIXMIS guy on there (think it was the guy who wrote the book) anyway he got round to talking about the opel saying about how it had special brakes , suspension & lights.

guy stood up in the crowd and tells him he's full of crap cause "I used to work in the opel factory and we never made cars like that" wish I had a photo of his face when the guy started rattleing off facts about it this guy couldn't refute he just went a funny colour sat down and shut up for the rest of the discussion

Always refreshing to see another armchair expert,commenting about Brixmis on the internet. I would be interested to meet the "guy who worked in the Opel factory" to tell him that he was full of crap,and rattle of a few facts at him. Unless he worked for the Opel RallyeSport Division at Russelsheim,he wouldn't even have seen the Opels used by the Mission,then again which model are we talking about,the Kapitans-1951 to 1969,or maybe,the Admiral 69-78,or the Senator 79 to 85?

The Senator in the pictures,is not a genuine Mission car,but was made to look like one by a french guy named Pierre Flauss,on advice and information supplied by me,the Range Rover logo was done by me in 1979.

Just for the record,in case you meet "the guy from Opel" again,in 1974 the Admiral was retro fitted with the Mullard ABS system,and FF four wheeled drive system,the suspension and lights had already been modified "in house"

In 1979,the Senator came into service with,uprated springs,pneumatic self-levelling suspension,specially strenghtened monocoque body,and underside. It was unusual because,it was badged as a Senator 3.0 E but had a special Opel RallyeSport normally aspirated conversion. there were a lot more special little bits and pieces to numerous to mention.

A Tourist

P.S. The guy that wrote the book,did just that,and never served in the Mission.

P.P.S. My claim to fame...................................I did 2 tours of duty with the Mission in the 70s,and 80s. I went to collect the first FF converted Admiral from th UK,brought the Senator into service,and brought the G-wagen into service as well.

[Adam Wilhelm]

Is BRIXMIX the unit wich Ken Connor did a tour with and is writing about it in Ghostforce?

[Sirpad]

http://www.dia.mil/history/art/2004_series.htm

[Brixmis]

Can you show me were I claimed to be an expert? In fact if you re-read my post I state that it was on a TV discussion show

Sorry for the rant Kev, please accept my apology. I didn't see where it said it was on a TV discussion show.

[Brixmis]

Is BRIXMIX the unit wich Ken Connor did a tour with and is writing about it in Ghostforce?

Hi,Adam
Yes,Ken was there during the early 1980s.

[Brixmis]

http://www.dia.mil/history/art/2004_series.htm

Very nice picture,but a few mistakes. Never ever,three people out of the vehicle at the same time,only ever one taking photos,Tour NCO observing with Binos,driver in vehicle observing all round security,always wore plain green,never DPM,never wore berets when working,and observation was always covert! Vehicle was Olive Drab.

Tourist

[Brixmis]

Thats about right for most people Kev,just shows how covert,is covert.

This month is the 60th Anniversary of the signing of the agreement that,bought Brixmis in to existence,also the first time that a contingent will be marching past the Cenotaph,on Rememberance Sunday.

Would have been there myself,but had to pull out,my Army hip replacement is wearing out,and I need a new one. With this government,I aint holding my breath!

A Tourist

[Flagg]

Just found this thread.....welcome aboard BRIXMIS...hopefully you can continue to share anecdotes on a little known but very important part of the Cold War(and a topic I find particularly intrigueing).

A couple questions:

1.) ABS in a car in 1974? That would put it almost 15 years before ABS hit the mainstream....as a motorsports fan, that alone is pretty impressive.

2.) Were all BRIXMIS members cross-trained as drivers?

3.) How were BRIXMIS drivers trained? Was it a course specifically tailored "in house" for BRIXMIS and SF drivers, or were any civvy rally car type drivers brought in? I'm guessing the driver training would have been great fun and quite challenging in pre deployment training.

4.) Were any mods made to the Opel's bumpers, any mods made to protect the radiator, were "run flat" tires available back then?

5.) Were other cars evaluated for use?

Personally, I would have voted for a red Lancia Stratos, worn a tuxedo as the standard uniform, and had two hot female NCOs sharing the passenger seat.

6.) It's quite common to see crims today attempting to flee police pursuit, typically in vain as it seems police helos are near impossible to outrun or outwit.

Was it common to be surveilled by Warsaw Pact helos? I could imagine the expense would have been significant, but worth it to attempt to manage command and control efforts to hinder BRIXMIS collection operations.

[Brixmis]

Hi,I'll try to answer all you questions.

Q1. It certainly would,manufactured by a British company called Mullard,and installed by FF Developments,whilst installing their Four-wheeled drive system,still vastly superior to all the other sytems.

Q2. No,the drivers were specialists,selected from the whole of the Transport side of the British Army,for their driving expertise,and intelligence. They went through the same Special Duties training as the other Mission members.

Q3. All the driver training was done in house,it tended to concentrate on cross country skills,stealthy driving,self recovery,get you home techniques. Most of the drivers were good high speed drivers,we just showed them how to slow down,and creep about on 4 wheels.

Q4. No mods to the bumpers,there was a rather nice towing eye protruding from just under the centre of the front bumper,that was useful if you needed to push small trees out of the way,etc. runflat rims were available,but as they weren't robust enough for our kind of driving,they didn't get considered.

Q5. In 1979,we had considerable trouble with the Opel Senator at first,and had a brief look at the Audi Quattro,we found that their 4wd system wasn't robust enough,and they broke easily,unless you had a back-up crew to put them back together again!

We had a few coloured Admirals in the Late 70s,maroon,blue and green,to look like the Russians Volga staff cars from a distance,it worked for a while,but it meant that we had less dirty cars to task for the more covert operations.

Q6. Both the Sovs,and the East Germans,harassed tours,I was chased by a Soviet"Hound" for about 2 hours near Zerbst in the former DDR,but we lost him when it got dark,and in the early 80s I was in a Range Rover,which was chased along the Autobahn near Weimar,by a "Hind",and 2 Volkspolizie Volvos,which made the afternoon go by very quickly.

Any other questions,let me know and within reason I'll try to answer them.

A Tourist


“People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."

George Orwell

[Campo]

Ahhh, the old Holden Commodore. Nice in dark green. Very popular car here in Australia, mind you thats a bloody old version of one!

Here's a bit of Holden history for ya

http://www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au..._commodore.htm

As for the Senator, here's the newest version, maybe those boys need to get one of these!

http://www.hsv.com.au/index_eseries.asp

[Pluggie]

Very VERY interesting read.

I drive a rally spec Opel myself, and after the wall fell down, visited many many Russian airfields, hence my avatar, it was a SGBT (Self Guide Base Tour) at Finow-Eberswalde. I am an aircraft spotter, and in a sense what we did was the same as you, only different. And later, duh.

The Avatar is from that time, 787 IAP times. We were nuts.
Sperenberg, Larz, etc, we travelled same roads, only different, for us it was gold. Wall collapse, en we jumped in. 99% missed it. Record was 188 'red stars' red on codes, read off numerous c/n's on wheelbays now and then, chased by dogs that were wired to poles, that was easy.

I been chased several times by my own BVD, Binnenlandse Veiligheids Dienst, 'Domestic' Security Service because of it. I checked the StaSi files thread on your forum.

The Senator is awesome, I know the missions as a 'liasion' officer are off, but can you talk more on the car itself, I visited the Brixmis forums, etc, did you drive it ? Apart from the 180 liters tank, the suspension, the 500 kilo extra weight, the 4x4 etc.

Awesome, never heard of this. You drove them till 1990. So till the end. Ultimate Senators.

[Brixmis]

Very VERY interesting read.

I drive a rally spec Opel myself, and after the wall fell down, visited many many Russian airfields, hence my avatar, it was a SGBT (Self Guide Base Tour) at Finow-Eberswalde. I am an aircraft spotter, and in a sense what we did was the same as you, only different. And later, duh.

The Avatar is from that time, 787 IAP times. We were nuts.
Sperenberg, Larz, etc, we travelled same roads, only different, for us it was gold. Wall collapse, en we jumped in. 99% missed it. Record was 188 'red stars' red on codes, read off numerous c/n's on wheelbays now and then, chased by dogs that were wired to poles, that was easy.

I been chased several times by my own BVD, Binnenlandse Veiligheids Dienst, 'Domestic' Security Service because of it. I checked the StaSi files thread on your forum.

The Senator is awesome, I know the missions as a 'liasion' officer are off, but can you talk more on the car itself, I visited the Brixmis forums, etc, did you drive it ? Apart from the 180 liters tank, the suspension, the 500 kilo extra weight, the 4x4 etc.

Awesome, never heard of this. You drove them till 1990. So till the end. Ultimate Senators.

Hi, the Senators were actually phased out from about 1984 onwards. What you must remember is that to us the vehicle was just a means to an end,so whilst the Senator was a good car,it was just transport.

It was the standard 3.0 litre straight six engine,standard car,with modifications to enable us to live and work,in the DDR for up to 5 days at a time,normally 1 to 3. Whilst a lot of people might think it a bit low to the ground,in the hands of an experienced driver it went where purpose built 4x4s couldn't go. The soviet UAZ jeeps,were regularly given the slip during cross country pursuits,and the easiest way to lose a Stasi tail was to go off-road.

All the vehicles used by Brixmis,tended to be driven at a fairly slow speed,high speeds day or night attracted attention,and also meant that you could miss "interesting" activity in the vicinity. The slower you go,the less likely you are to be seen,during the summer months going to fast off-road kicks up dust,and lets the security services know where you are,so you see,we were interested in tourqe,not "top-end".

I was with the Mission during the 70s,and again during the early 80s,and the cars I enjoyed the most were,the Admiral,and the Diplomat. Both very comfortable,the Admiral was about the best cross country car,in both 2 and 4 wheel drive configurations,and as a small aside,the Admiral was faster in reverse,than a UAZ 469,the VoPo Lada,and the NVA P3 jeep that's from personal experience.

I hope that was of some value to you.

Tourist

“People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.”


George Orwell

[zealot]

WOW!!

1st of all - wellcome Brixmis,

very interesting thread w/ lots of 1st hand info. I never heard of Brixmis before . Many thanks to all who contributed.

One Q. for Brixmis when you said

the Range Rover logo was done by me in 1979.

are you referring to the one in your avatar? If answer is yes, what was the puropse of it? Was it the (semi)official logo of Brixmis or...?? it is being reffered to as "Sweatshirt Logo" on the brixmis site

.. in the case someone missed the actual Brixmis brief presentation http://www.brixmis.co.uk/documents/90.html << VERY interesting w/ lots of cold war photos

[Brixmis]

WOW!!

1st of all - wellcome Brixmis,

very interesting thread w/ lots of 1st hand info. I never heard of Brixmis before . Many thanks to all who contributed.

One Q. for Brixmis when you said are you referring to the one in your avatar? If answer is yes, what was the puropse of it? Was it the (semi)official logo of Brixmis or...?? it is being reffered to as "Sweatshirt Logo" on the brixmis site

.. in the case someone missed the actual Brixmis brief presentation http://www.brixmis.co.uk/documents/90.html << VERY interesting w/ lots of cold war photos

Hi,yes it's all one and the same,it's the "MT Sweatshirt "logo on the website. It was originally drawn in black and white in 1980,but I scanned it,and coloured it on my computer about 3 years ago and,put it on the website.

It was done as a design for the drivers in the Mission,and any one else that wanted one at the time,neither official,or semi official.

The Cyrillic word says "Tourist".

Most of the "action" shots on the website,and in the book were posed,think about it,who is going to stay outside the car to photograph a chase? All the good photos are,in private hands,and will stay that way.

Hope this helps.

A Tourist