... not a circus act
June 7, 2013 8:30 AM Subscribe
Graf and Stift, more like graffic stiff, amiright?
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 8:53 AM on June 7, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 8:53 AM on June 7, 2013 [1 favorite]
Thanks for that. I loved it.
....remarkable detail contained in the Gräf & Stift’s license plate, which reads AIII 118.
That number, Presland pointed out, is capable of a quite astonishing interpretation. It can be taken to read A (for Armistice) 11-11-18— which means that the death car has always carried with it a prediction not of the dreadful day of Sarajevo that in a real sense marked the beginning of the First World War, but of November 11, 1918: Armistice Day, the day that the war ended.
Sounds like a great Dr. Who Episode I can't wait to see. The twist is Dr. Who has to make sure that he ended up 6 feet in front of that gunman (who may be the Dr. himself), and must die to save the world...from dialects.
And the license plate, his way of saying to the world- Dr. Who was here.
posted by QueerAngel28 at 9:00 AM on June 7, 2013 [2 favorites]
....remarkable detail contained in the Gräf & Stift’s license plate, which reads AIII 118.
That number, Presland pointed out, is capable of a quite astonishing interpretation. It can be taken to read A (for Armistice) 11-11-18— which means that the death car has always carried with it a prediction not of the dreadful day of Sarajevo that in a real sense marked the beginning of the First World War, but of November 11, 1918: Armistice Day, the day that the war ended.
Sounds like a great Dr. Who Episode I can't wait to see. The twist is Dr. Who has to make sure that he ended up 6 feet in front of that gunman (who may be the Dr. himself), and must die to save the world...from dialects.
And the license plate, his way of saying to the world- Dr. Who was here.
posted by QueerAngel28 at 9:00 AM on June 7, 2013 [2 favorites]
Archduke Franz Ferdinand And His Astounding Death Car...fight crime!
posted by Iridic at 9:02 AM on June 7, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by Iridic at 9:02 AM on June 7, 2013 [3 favorites]
Archduke Franz Ferdinand And His Astounding Death Car ... win the indy 500!!
posted by pyramid termite at 9:27 AM on June 7, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by pyramid termite at 9:27 AM on June 7, 2013 [2 favorites]
Archduke Franz Ferdinand And His Astounding Death Car... in Color!
posted by subbes at 9:29 AM on June 7, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by subbes at 9:29 AM on June 7, 2013 [2 favorites]
I don't know, "Gavrilo Princip's Sandwich" sounds like a good name for a fun grindcore band.
posted by gucci mane at 9:31 AM on June 7, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by gucci mane at 9:31 AM on June 7, 2013 [1 favorite]
Archduke Franz Ferdinand And His Astounding Death Car... and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.
posted by ardgedee at 9:37 AM on June 7, 2013 [10 favorites]
posted by ardgedee at 9:37 AM on June 7, 2013 [10 favorites]
When I was in 6th grade, I got bored with learning about the Revolutionary war for the third time (we moved a lot, and they always restarted U.S. history at the beginning and ended at the Civil War), so I got some books on wars that the schools didn't cover. This included the historically neglected WWI. I read about how the war started.
When my family made a trip to Vienna, I saw mention in some guide book that this car was at the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum. I insisted that my parents take me there. The car was there and was painted black, not red. In the same room was the uniform that Franz Ferdinand was wearing (with bullet holes), and the pistol used by Gavrilo Princip. I don't remember the license plate.
It was one of the few things I really remember about Vienna.
posted by Xoc at 9:40 AM on June 7, 2013 [1 favorite]
When my family made a trip to Vienna, I saw mention in some guide book that this car was at the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum. I insisted that my parents take me there. The car was there and was painted black, not red. In the same room was the uniform that Franz Ferdinand was wearing (with bullet holes), and the pistol used by Gavrilo Princip. I don't remember the license plate.
It was one of the few things I really remember about Vienna.
posted by Xoc at 9:40 AM on June 7, 2013 [1 favorite]
Not to be confused with Tom Swift and his Triphibian Atomicar.
posted by brundlefly at 9:56 AM on June 7, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by brundlefly at 9:56 AM on June 7, 2013 [1 favorite]
There used to be footprints pressed into the concrete of the sidewalk in Sarajevo so that you could (supposedly) stand in the very spot where Principe took his shot at the Archduke. I thought that was cool. Creepy. But cool. Those are gone now - enough memories of more recent and brutal acts of violence to go around. There is a fairly cheesy museum of the event on that spot though.
posted by RandlePatrickMcMurphy at 9:58 AM on June 7, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by RandlePatrickMcMurphy at 9:58 AM on June 7, 2013 [2 favorites]
The strangest part of the story is when it came into the possession of one Cousin Matthew of Downton Abbey.
posted by drezdn at 10:01 AM on June 7, 2013 [4 favorites]
posted by drezdn at 10:01 AM on June 7, 2013 [4 favorites]
I wonder how many other "death cars" there are available for public viewing. I've seen the Bonnie and Clyde death car, which you can find at a desert casino between LA and Las Vegas.
posted by Bookhouse at 10:13 AM on June 7, 2013
posted by Bookhouse at 10:13 AM on June 7, 2013
And when the ArchDuke died, he was sent to deer heaven, where he was put on display for the entertainment of all the Cervidae and their friends.
posted by mule98J at 10:27 AM on June 7, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by mule98J at 10:27 AM on June 7, 2013 [2 favorites]
The car Kennedy was shot in is on display at the Henry Ford Museum.
posted by stopgap at 10:28 AM on June 7, 2013
posted by stopgap at 10:28 AM on June 7, 2013
"Tonight's Episode: A Close Shave" On-screen text: "Duked Out"
posted by joecacti at 10:30 AM on June 7, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by joecacti at 10:30 AM on June 7, 2013 [3 favorites]
Archduke Franz Ferdinand And His Astounding Death Car... had a couple of good albums, but now they're too mainstream.
posted by blue_beetle at 11:29 AM on June 7, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by blue_beetle at 11:29 AM on June 7, 2013 [1 favorite]
I've been to the Heeresgeschichtliches twice, and the first time I went there it was primarily to see the artifacts associated with the assassination.
I'd never heard the tall tale concerning the car; what I'd been told, and confirmed at the museum, is that as soon as the Archduke died, all the artifacts -- the car, his uniform, the settee on which he actually died, etc. -- were impounded by the military and transferred in fairly short order (after Princip's trial) to the Museum.
I've always wondered whether everything was sent to the museum simply because nobody else wanted the stuff, or because even at the time the trial was concluded (late December 1914) it was clear that something momentous, beyond even the assassination of a head of state, had occurred, and that everything about it should be preserved.
Strangely though, Princip's gun didn't get included in that initial collection that was immediately deposited in the museum. For reasons that I don't really understand, the gun and some small items of clothing ended up being kept by the priest who gave the Archduke the Last Rites as he lay dying, and were then retained by his order (Jesuits) for many years. They only ended up in the Heeresgeschichtliches in the early 2000s, just before I visited (leading the tour guide I was with to make a point of showing us the gun, as it was a recent acquisition). I'm sure there must be an interesting story as to how the priest ended up with the gun, which was presumably confiscated from Princip just after the shots were fired, but I've never heard it.
posted by Kadin2048 at 12:28 PM on June 7, 2013 [3 favorites]
I'd never heard the tall tale concerning the car; what I'd been told, and confirmed at the museum, is that as soon as the Archduke died, all the artifacts -- the car, his uniform, the settee on which he actually died, etc. -- were impounded by the military and transferred in fairly short order (after Princip's trial) to the Museum.
I've always wondered whether everything was sent to the museum simply because nobody else wanted the stuff, or because even at the time the trial was concluded (late December 1914) it was clear that something momentous, beyond even the assassination of a head of state, had occurred, and that everything about it should be preserved.
Strangely though, Princip's gun didn't get included in that initial collection that was immediately deposited in the museum. For reasons that I don't really understand, the gun and some small items of clothing ended up being kept by the priest who gave the Archduke the Last Rites as he lay dying, and were then retained by his order (Jesuits) for many years. They only ended up in the Heeresgeschichtliches in the early 2000s, just before I visited (leading the tour guide I was with to make a point of showing us the gun, as it was a recent acquisition). I'm sure there must be an interesting story as to how the priest ended up with the gun, which was presumably confiscated from Princip just after the shots were fired, but I've never heard it.
posted by Kadin2048 at 12:28 PM on June 7, 2013 [3 favorites]
I have paid my two K.M. to tour the fairly cheesy museum of Franz-Ferdinand in Sarajevo. There is a plaque near where the foot-prints were. I visited Sarajevo when the foot-prints still existed, and have seen them.
Crossing the Latinski bridge was a regular part of my life there.
I never knew all those silly tales of the 'Death Car'
Did you know that poor Sophie was pregnant at the time of the assassination?
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 12:47 PM on June 7, 2013
Crossing the Latinski bridge was a regular part of my life there.
I never knew all those silly tales of the 'Death Car'
Did you know that poor Sophie was pregnant at the time of the assassination?
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 12:47 PM on June 7, 2013
Archduke Franz Ferdinand And His Astounding Death Car... do doughnuts in the parking lot.
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 2:04 PM on June 7, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 2:04 PM on June 7, 2013 [1 favorite]
Archduke Franz Ferdinand And His Astounding Death Car... drag race with Chitty Chitty Bang Bang on the weekends, out past the airport.
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 2:04 PM on June 7, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 2:04 PM on June 7, 2013 [1 favorite]
Archduke Franz Ferdinand And His Astounding Death Car... get kicked out of the Denny's in Pomona.
posted by drezdn at 2:36 PM on June 7, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by drezdn at 2:36 PM on June 7, 2013 [2 favorites]
Wait a second.... Some guy loaned his car to FF, and because FF and his wife were shot dead in it, the owner loses his car? So this poor guy ends up with his friend and the friend's wife dead AND no car? That had to suck.
posted by InsertNiftyNameHere at 5:51 PM on June 7, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by InsertNiftyNameHere at 5:51 PM on June 7, 2013 [1 favorite]
« Older A Month Without a Fork | Steve Martin would approve Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by the man of twists and turns at 8:32 AM on June 7, 2013 [2 favorites]