Werner - Das muß kesseln!!! (1996)

In the middle of winter, the Wernersens’ greatest pleasure is racing across the frozen lakes on their homemade ice sled. Werner even neglects his job at the Röhrich plumbing business to do it. They end up challenging the wealthy restaurant owner Nobelschröder and lose to his Bentley. Frustrated, they hear from Farmer Horst, over a little grog to cheer them up, about his adventures in World War II and the American bomber he shot down with his own hands. Farmer Horst says the bomber should still be lying in the swamp. Werner and Andi set off to look for its engine and eventually find it. They install the salvaged engine in their ice sled so they can finally beat Nobelschröder in a rematch. But one problem after another crops up: the fuel doesn’t have the required octane rating, and by now the lake has thawed. It is summer, after all, and Werner has to go back to work for a while. At the barbecue party organized by Master Röhrich for building contractor Günzelsen because business is slow, things turn into a disaster when their illegal liquor distilling runs into trouble. There, Werner gets the recipe for a miracle fuel: methyl—actually methanol. He convinces Andi that the engine will run on it, and they build a new racer, this time with wheels (“those black things [...] with air in them, the ones you drive on”). While they are building it, the skeptical Nobelschröder goads Werner, who lets himself be drawn into a bet: one month of free meals at Nobelschröder’s restaurant, the “Cardan Bleu,” against Werner and Andi’s pet pig, Borsti. But held up by various mishaps, most recently a forgotten cam ring, Werner loses the bet, and Nobelschröder claims his prize. When the clueless Andi physically threatens him, Werner persuades Nobelschröder to make a new bet: a year of hand-washing the Bentley against Borsti. But they miss this deadline too, so Borsti is slaughtered and eaten as spit-roasted piglet. To save their pet pig after all, Werner really puts his foot down, and with the methyl-powered engine they drive back through time (“I’m leaving time behind now, right now”) and reach the “Cardan Bleu” just in time. In the race for the pet pig that follows, started by Nobelschröder’s hungry guests, Werner and Andi win easily thanks to the aircraft engine and methyl.