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Car-napping

1980 film by Wigbert Wicker

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 12, 2026
Entity authorityQ1035236
Source-derived summary

Car-napping is a German comedy about international car thieves from 1980 with Bernd Stephan and Anny Duperey.

Plot

On returning from an extended vacation, designer Robert Mehring learns to his complete surprise that the company he used to work for does not exist anymore. The owner of the business, Benninger, has secretly liquidated it and fled abroad with Mehrings drafts. Mehring locates Benninger on the Côte d'Azur and confronts him – without any success.

Later Mehring realizes that his Porsche 911 was stolen, including all his papers. The local police chief makes it clear that Mehring can't expect any help from the authorities. A short time later Mehring discovers his car in traffic and confronts the thieves, two Italians named Carlo and Mario, as they want to sell the 911 to a dealer. In return for not being reported to the police, the car thieves offer their cooperation. At first Mehring declines, but after learning that his former boss Benninger owns a car dealership in Paris with 40 Porsches, Mehring accepts the offer of Carlo and Mario. With the help of other chums, they steal all 40 cars in a single night and sell them.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Car-napping” as 1980 film by Wigbert Wicker. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Car-napping, film and Wigbert.

Editorial reviewA productive route into publication, performance and collection histories when the underlying object or edition remains clearly identified. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1980—that can be checked directly. The authority record carries competing date values—1980-01-01, 1980-04-17—which should remain separate until their references and qualifiers are resolved. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Car-napping, film and Wigbert providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Car-napping”, the useful work is to connect “1980 film by Wigbert Wicker” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1035236. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1980.

Critical limits

Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Car-napping”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Car-napping primary sources, Car-napping archive and Car-napping research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Car-napping”?
  2. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
  3. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
Subject index

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Car-napping” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.