n an evening more than three years ago, Peter Albiez and Marc Greenberg, former co-workers and housemates, were out having a few drinks in Cheshire, England. Greenberg shared an engaging story about his red 1982 Mazda 626 and "I thought it would make a good Web site," Albiez says. "Next day we still thought it was a good idea — this is a good test of a good idea, especially one thought up when drinking — so we decided to go ahead and have a go."

As Albiez found out that night, Greenberg's Mazda was no ordinary vehicle: It once co-starred in an obscure video with Monty Python veteran Eric Idle. Many years ago, Greenberg's father was a video producer and director and was involved in an unusual project with Idle. "It's basically a video about how to buy and sell a used car — with Eric Idle as an unscrupulous car dealer doing very bad things to an example of a car that you should never, ever buy: my car," Greenberg explains.

And Now for Something Completely Obscure
In case the plot doesn't ring a bell, "I don't know of the existence of a single copy of the video anywhere outside my parents' house," Greenberg says. Unfortunately, that's all the more insight he can offer into the history of his car's brush with fame. He acquired the unassuming car, previously belonging to his father, while still a university student. "I didn't know about the video until after I had owned the car for several years," Greenberg says. "This was several years after the video had been made and the car had broken down and had been sitting for several months. My parents were going to scrap it, I think. I fixed it up and used it for about four years after that. About the time I was thinking of getting rid of it, I found out about the video, we made the Web site and then I couldn't get rid of it."

Since then, Albiez and Greenberg's site has acquired quite a cult following. Offering the opportunity to win a "piece of British Comedy Motoring Memorabilia" in the "Oily Bit Competition," Albiez and Greenberg invite visitors to offer something funny in order to receive parts, such as a spark plug or a valve-cover gasket, from the 626. Even though it's been more than two years since an oily bit has actually been awarded, the entries still pour in, for better or for worse. "There have been some interesting mails," Greenberg says. "Some have been threatening: 'Give me an oily bit or I will do unspeakable things to your pets.'"

The attention hasn't all been objectionable. Although neither Greenberg nor Albiez have actually met Idle, "Mr. Eric (as he likes to be called) knows about the site and has even said that it is one of his favorites," Greenberg observes. PythOnline.com, the Web site dedicated to the Monty Python alums and edited by Idle himself, links to their Web site.

Bring Out Your Dead
What Idle (and other visitors) may not know, however, is that the Web site has now become a memorial for the icon of British Comedy Motoring history, now dearly departed. "Sadly (for the car) I moved to the United States about six months ago, so I accepted an offer for it — the kind of offer where I paid a chap ten pounds and he flipped it upside-down on the back of a trailer and carried it away. I didn't even get any pictures," Greenberg laments. "In actual fact, it had blown a gasket and had been sitting on my driveway unused for over a year before that. I kept telling myself I would fix it, but it seemed to age quicker just sitting there than it did when I was actually driving it. The scrapyard was the humane thing, really."

So there you have it: Cars.com gets the scoop again. Unlike the old man in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" who was "not dead yet," the Mazda 626 driven by Eric Idle is no more. It has ceased to be. Bereft of life, it rests in peace. It has kicked the bucket, hopped the creek, bit the dust, snuffed it, breathed its last. Albiez and Greenberg's site, and an obscure video, remain the bright side of death.

Reported by Kara Reuter, cars.com

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THE BLUE SMOKE
View a transcript and stills from the rare video.

THE WONDER CAR AT REST
Visit another memorial to a well-loved car.