[Spridgets] 52 years ago

Fri May 8 03:54:11 MDT 2015

WOW Tim,
What a great article! At first thinking 1961 I thought it was a Bugeye till
I read the article and saw the picture of them in the MK2. I'm sending this
to my friend in Berlin who grew up on the East side and oddly didn't seem
as excited when the wall came down. I will be visiting him this summer and
hope to learn much more and visit that museum in the article thanks a ton
for posting this.

Here is the photo of Heinz Meixner, Margarete Thurau and her mom in his mk2
Sprite just amazing. Great other stories of those who crossed in
an Isetta and a Mini as well as other vehicles. I am looking forward to
learning as much as I can before my trip.

Lin

Heinz Meixner, Margarete Thurau and her mom in his mk2 Sprite
http://d.ibtimes.co.uk/en/full/1404619/berlin-wall-fall-25th-anniversary.jpg

On Tue, May 5, 2015 at 1:09 PM, Tim Collins via Spridgets <
spridgets at autox.team.net> wrote:

>  52 years ago today. . .
>
> TIME Magazine
>
> Friday, May. 17, 1963
> Two Inches to Safety
>
> Since the hated Wall went up in 1961, escapees have ingeniously gotten
> past it by tunneling, climbing, jumping, or by just knocking it down. Last
> week a young Austrian outdid them all, smuggling out his pretty fiancée and
> her mother through the simple expedient of keeping his head down. Heinz
> Meixner, 20, had moved to West Berlin two years ago to take a job as a
> lathe worker. As a foreigner, he was able to cross the line freely into
> East Berlin, where, at a students' dance last September, he fell in love
> with tiny, attractive Margarete Thurau. When Margarete applied for
> permission to emigrate to Austria, Communist police told her that she
> should marry her young man in East Berlin and settle down there. "As soon
> as I heard that," says Meixner, "I made up my mind to get her out." Last
> Exit. He laid his plans with meticulous care. To get a good look at the
> Communist side of the Friedrichstrasse crossing point for foreigners,
> Meixner stalled his motor scooter near the peppermint-striped steel beam
> that closes the last exit in the Wall. Pretending to have engine trouble,
> he measured the height of the barrier, found that it was only 37½ in. from
> the ground. His next step was to search the car rental agencies in West
> Berlin for a sports car small enough to slip under the beam. He finally
> decided on an Austin Healey Sprite, which, without its windshield, measured
> 35½ in. high. Meixner confided in another young Austrian, gave him an exact
> timetable of his plans and asked him to prevent any cars on the Western
> side from starting into the barrier area at the critical moment. At last,
> when his plans were complete. Meixner drove his little sports car back into
> East Berlin to Margarete's house. Margarete crouched in the narrow space
> behind the driver's seat; her mother was wedged into the luggage
> compartment. "Luckily," says petite Margarete, "Mother is just like me."
> Leaving nothing to chance, Meixner also let air out of his tires to lower
> the car. Shortly after midnight, Meixner drove to the entrance of the
> frontier area, showed his Austrian passport to a guard, who waved him on to
> the customs officer. Bricks for Mamma. It was the time for action. Instead
> of pulling up at the customs shed, Meixner gunned his motor, skidded around
> the slalom barriers, and shot past the startled guard. Looming before him
> was that last bar. For one terrifying moment, it seemed too low to clear.
> But he had measured well. Jamming his foot on the accelerator, Meixner
> ducked his head and whizzed into West Berlin. By the time he got there, he
> was going so fast that he left a 96-ft. skid mark when he jammed on the
> brakes. Safe with his passengers, Meixner explained his escape plan to
> startled West Berlin police: "I figured it would take the Vopos three
> seconds to draw their weapons once they realized what I was doing. But I
> thought I could make it in those three seconds. Besides, we had 30 bricks
> behind Mrs. Thurau to protect her if firing started."
>
> and It is incredible that one man took his bride to safety in an Austin
> Healey Sprite, but TWO - with the SAME Sprite!!! WOW
> I like the line about the defective exhaust. LOL
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> The House At Checkpoint Charlie
> A Little West Berlin Museum Celebrates The Ingenuity Of Those Who
> Conquered The Wall
>
> December 07, 1986|By Article by Paul Martin, a freelance writer based in
> Riverside.
>
> The exploit, and the Sprite, received international publicity. Several
> months later Norbert Konrad tried the same stunt. Although born in Germany,
> Konrad had an Argentine passport. He had fallen in love with an East German
> woman, Helga Werner, but the authorities refused permission for her to
> emigrate. Although concerned that the guards at Checkpoint Charlie might be
> particularly suspicious of sports cars, Konrad rented an Austin-Healey
> Sprite at a West Berlin agency.
>
> As Helga huddled in the trunk, Konrad drove toward the East Berlin
> checkpoint. En route, an East Berlin policeman stopped him; Konrad was
> certain he had been discovered. He relaxed when the policeman pointed to a
> loose fitting on the exhaust pipe and told him to have it repaired. Konrad
> gladly fixed it, then resumed his drive.
>
> At the checkpoint Konrad showed his passport, and the guard directed him
> to the customs office. Instead, Konrad stepped on the gas, raced for the
> barrier, ducked his head under the 37 1/2-inch-high horizontal pole and
> skidded into West Berlin. Konrad later returned the car to the rental
> agency and was incredulous when he learned it was the same vehicle Heinz
> Meixner had used. Several weeks later Konrad and Werner were married.
>
> The trick worked twice, but no more. To prevent a third Sprite escape, the
> East Germans embedded steel bars in the concrete beneath the barrier.
>
> <the article continues>
>
>
> http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1986-12-07/features/8604010562_1_rainer-hildebrandt-west-berlin-east-berlin/3
>
>
> ------------------------
>
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-- 
"Pay if forward" in honor of Frank Clarici III, Spritenut
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