Does anyone else watch old movies and TV shows for the old cars?

[hddennis]

Sadly, yes. But al least most of those guys like cars, and had enough sense to stop ruining this type about 20 years ago (for the most part). About 15 years ago I went to a demo derby (my toddler son was a big fan then) and watched some guy destroy a (truly) near mint condition 1966 Olds 98 2 door hardtop. He was out to win a $75 prize.

They're not ALL genuises, you know! I was hardly the only outraged person there.

I'll never forget watching Wide World of Sports Coverage of the Islip NY demolition derby in the mid 60's and watching some idiot destroy a beautiful Model A coupe and thinking first that was a perfect car and what was this fool thinking ? It didn't last 2 minutes against that big late model iron!

Howard Dennis

[30 Hupp]

They're probably part of a leased fleet for the show. The second movie of Hairspray (2007), set in Baltimore in 1962, is one of the worst offenders I've seen in this respect. They rented a fleet of (at most) 15 cars for the whole movie, and virtually every outdoor scene has every one of them in it. The same cars, every scene, no matter the location.

What's worse is the director obvioulsy had his favorites among the cars. For example there's a gorgeous 3-tone 1956 Packard Caribbean (turquoise/copper/cream) that drives by in the near foreground in almost every scene. You almost get tired of looking at it long enough to forget it's in WAY too nice condition to be a 6 year old car in Baltimore in 1962.

I don't think the Andy Griffith show had that many cars! I'd like to have a nickel for everytime that Mercury Comet went by!

Dale

[poci1957]

Maybe if these idiot carmakers would go back to sponsoring and product-placing their cars in TV shows, sales might improve? It worked back then...

Or is there even a modern car made that could be placed front and center in a TV show and make people want to own it? Nah, they'd rather yap about electronic entertainment gadgets and financing options.

Other sightings?

Good topic Glenn, like most of us here I like watching the cars in old TV shows.

Regarding the product placement, there remains plenty of it in modern TV (and movies), at least in some of the shows I seem to watch. Some of it is quite obvious, like in the TNT show "Men of a Certain Age" with lots of scenes set in a Chevrolet dealership. In a recent episiode the stars went to a Chevy dealer meeting and there was a new Corvette concept car on display. On the USA network there are several shows featuring Fords; often showing off the car's electronic gadgets like SYNC or GPS/Navigation.

Not as interesting to us as the 1960s models, of course. Todd C

[LINC400]

Sadly, yes. But al least most of those guys like cars, and had enough sense to stop ruining this type about 20 years ago (for the most part). About 15 years ago I went to a demo derby (my toddler son was a big fan then) and watched some guy destroy a (truly) near mint condition 1966 Olds 98 2 door hardtop. He was out to win a $75 prize.

They're not ALL genuises, you know! I was hardly the only outraged person there.

These movie producers (The Green Hornet) had a budget last year of probably something like $250,000.00 to buy and screw up a bunch of still good 45 year old luxury cars, and did it. They probably spent that much on coffee creamer, too. At least when the producers made Christine and the Dukes of Hazzard TV show the cars they were destroying were only 20-25 years old.:mad:

It is easy to look at shows from the 1950's thru 1970's and complain about the cars that were destroyed. But at the time, most of them were beaters or even new. They couldn't exactly be destroying 1999 Tauruses and Accords in 1972. What I find upsetting is current shows and movies that destroy fully restored or nice original antique cars. Many times the antique car destroyed did not even need to be an antique, any newer car would have worked without affecting the plot.

That is truly sickening that 26 Imperials were destroyed for the Green Hornet movie. True that the money spent to purchase cars to destroy for movies in nothing compared to paying $10-$20 million each for the main stars. Even a $100,000 car seems like a cheap bargain in comparison. I have had the fantasy that if I was a movie star, I would refuse to take part in any movie that destroyed an antique car. I have wondered why some stars that are car collectors don't feel the same. I guess the salary they get is more important than their love of cars. The Mythbusters was sickening too. Previously I was annoyed when they destroyed 1960's-1980's cars on the show, but at least those were of the "needs work" variety. That Imperial looked near mint before they destroyed it. And any idiot could see that there was no way that elevator cut in half deal would work like in the movie clip.

As far as demo derbies, the only reason more Imperials are not used are because many derbies have banned them. The derby drivers didn't suddenly start deciding they were too nice to use. Many outlaw and espcially California derbies still allow them, and nice ones are unfortunately still destroyed. Now they want rust free ones to use in derbies because they think the rust weakens them and makes them not as good in the derby. A sad fate for some of the rarest postwar luxury cars between movies and demo derbies.

I do like watching old movies and some TV shows. I watch them for the actual movie or show though. If old cars appear, that is just a bonus.

Edited January 3, 2011 by LINC400 (see edit history)

[Dave@Moon]

They're not ALL genuises, you know!

There are several web sites catering to people who buy and destroy cars in demo derbies. The ads are rather enjoyable to go through if you can get past the tragedy of what's (sometimes) going on. (Not all cars are worth saving, of course. But VERY frequently good 60's and early 70's parts cars and restorables are going this route.)

This was the first one i looked at today, completely at random: DerbyGear.Com - The number one Demolition Derby Classifieds source for demo derby cars and parts!. .

At least he got the year right. It's be nice if the seller could spell Chrysler, though.

Edited January 3, 2011 by Dave@Moon
added last wentence, 1st paragraph (see edit history)

[rocketraider]

the TNT show "Men of a Certain Age" with lots of scenes set in a Chevrolet dealership. In a recent episiode the stars went to a Chevy dealer meeting and there was a new Corvette concept car on display. On the USA network there are several shows featuring Fords; often showing off the car's electronic gadgets like SYNC or GPS/Navigation

Heehee- looks like they're subliminally suggesting to go visit a Chevy dealer. (Financing options, anyone?) Or touting Ford's new electronic gadgets.

I haven't watched that show yet. Guess I'll have to try and catch it sometime, since I am a Man of a Certain Age meself .

[poci1957]

Heehee- looks like they're subliminally suggesting to go visit a Chevy dealer. (Financing options, anyone?) Or touting Ford's new electronic gadgets.

I haven't watched that show yet. Guess I'll have to try and catch it sometime, since I am a Man of a Certain Age meself .

Oh, it is about as subliminal as a kick to the head sometimes. One scene has a character lying in bed reading a brochure for the Volt, with the brochure cover centered in the shot. Another has customers walking into the showroom asking to see a Cruze and having a remote start demonstration.

The only thing that could be more obvious would be an appearance of Dinah Shore singing of her love for a new Chevy. But I find it amusing and it is actually a very well produced show, especially for a guy like myself also nearing a certain age. Todd C

[Guest Skyking]

Besides watching old movies or old TV series I enjoy watching old car commercials. Compare watching Dinah Shore or Andy Williams commercials to today's commercials. Years ago they had the car on a turntable and you saw every inch of that 58 Impala convertible. They talked slow with words that made sense. In today's commercials, the cars are going so fast you can't make out what kind it is, or the trucks are driving through so much mud they look ugly, no matter what the make. I can't figure how people think anymore.......

[poci1957]

I like the old commercials too and collect them on video and DVD whenever I can. I agree that modern commercials are much different than the old ones and have little of the old glamour left. Todd C

[bubba]

This movie is called Upper World and features an early 1930's town car limousine. This car is featured in the movie with a young Andy Devine as the chauffer. He gets a speeding ticket in it. There also is a Packard coupe and a Pierce Arrow appearing once. The dialogue that Ginger Rogers says in the backseat is priceless but can you pick out the problem?

TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES

Edited January 3, 2011 by bubba (see edit history)

[Rusty_OToole]

They don't always destroy good old cars. Usually they have a nice one for closeups and driving scenes and a refugee from a junkyard for the wrecks. One old move from the forties, featured a late model Continental convertible. It eventually goes over a cliff in a flaming wreck. But if you look close, the car that goes over the cliff is a 41 Ford coupe with the roof sawed off and a spare tire bolted on the back.

Another good trick is to make a fake mangled fender of aluminum. Unbolt the original fender, bolt on the fakeroo, carefully pose the car next to a lamp post and shoot the scene.

The movie Tucker used an old Studebaker junker for the scenes where a Tucker got wrecked at Indianapolis. The car was suitably modified by the prop department of course. They also built 10 fake Tuckers with fibreglass bodies on Ford frames for driving scenes. These cars had only one working door, the driver's, the rest were permanently sealed shut as they were part of a 1 piece molded body.

The Dukes of Hazard used a lot of Coronets faked up to look like General Lee. I believe they went through 200 or 300 during the run of the show. There were only 2 or 3 genuine General Lee Chargers and they were carefully looked after.

So, next time you see a $2,000,000 Duesenberg, or even a $50,000 57 Tbird demolished in a movie, remember that Lee Marvin got up and walked away without a scratch every time he got killed and so do the really valuable cars.

[Rusty_OToole]

I get a kick out of seeing brand new cars of long ago in the movies and TV shows. There is a Vincent Price TV series called The Veil on DVD, one of the shows features a brand new Edsel convertible, very cool to see it on the road and closeups of the interior. Also in another episode, Mr Price in a sinister looking 58 Lincoln limousine.

[Dave@Moon]

The Dukes of Hazard used a lot of Coronets faked up to look like General Lee. I believe they went through 200 or 300 during the run of the show. There were only 2 or 3 genuine General Lee Chargers and they were carefully looked after.

While substituting cheaper cars for destruction scenes in movies is commonplace (the substitution of an older Camaro for a new Trans Am when driven off a pier in one of the Dirty Harry movies is one of the most obvious I know), for The Dukes of Hazard this simply isn't true.

Although only 3 cars were initially built for the first 5 episodes (shot in Georgia), from then on between 2 and 3 1968/1969/1970 Chargers were destroyed in each episode. They were supplied to the set by 2 different suppliers (Andre and Renaud Veluzat & Ken Fritz), until midway through the 5th season when Warner Brothers took it over in house. Towards the end of the series they were forced to employ light aircraft to scout and spot from the air potential Chargers for acquisition, they had become that rare already even though they were only 15 years old by then (1984).

Here are 2 links in Wikipedia, which I believe are pretty good summaries of what information there is on The General Lee:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_General_Lee

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dukes_of_Hazzard

There are fan web sites where people point out the discrepancies episode by episode where 1968 and 1970 Chargers were used for interior shots instead of the 1969 master car. I seriously doubt any Coronets were used.

Apparently there was never any formal count of how many cars they used, and towards the end they were forced to repair and re-use cars that would have been scrapped otherwise because they were just too difficult to find. Most estimates put the number of 1968-70 Chargers consumed at 200-300, mostly 1969 models.

At least they weren't out burning up 1935 Lincolns in 1980, which would be the equivalent of what The Green Hornet movie just did.:mad:

Edited January 4, 2011 by Dave@Moon
added links (see edit history)

[Dave Mellor NJ]

A friend from the MVPA had his WC(weapons carrier) Dodge truck in a war movie. They rolled it down a hill. The filming stopped halfway then they substituted a basket case of the same model. on this truck they placed a tarp that burned up 100% and ignited it on cue to make it look like it took an incoming. After all that the movie never was released. Later he had some vehicles in "Taps", filmed at the old Valley Forge Military Academy.

[Jrope]

Highway patrol was the best! I can remember a buddy telling me that when he married his wife, she looked just like the model Cindy Crawford. "Now," he says, " She looks more like Broderick Crawford!"

[tbirdman]

Old cars...50s and 60s cars are too new for me:-) I like watching vintage 20, 30s 40s movies for the old cars in them.

[Rusty_OToole]

Lately I have been watching a lot of film noir and screwball comedies on Youtube and get a kick out of the cars too.

[Joe Cocuzza]

I am 54 years old and I swear that I was born into the wrong era. I like most everything about the 30's - 40's - especially the cars. Even as a kid I was drawn to things from that time frame and I frowned on the "new" stuff being produced. If anyone believes in reincarnation, then I came back from that era.

I watch TCM - not only for the cars but I look at the furniture, the buildings, streets, the woman and how they dressed, etc. Just the things in general of that era, which are mostly, if not totally, gone now - particularly the mindset of the American people back then.

I honestly wish that I had grown up back then even though life may have been a bit more difficult, it was much less complicated and a whole lot more innocent.

Joe

[Guest Silverghost]

Joe:

You and I are on the very same wavelength ~

I am 55 and have also felt as if I was born decades too late for the very same reasons you stated !

[junkyardjeff]

I too think I was born in the wrong era as I would had a ball growing up in the 40s and 50s with all the cheap 30s cars to play with.

[OldsDoug]

(snip)Lee Marvin got up and walked away without a scratch every time he got killed and so do the really valuable cars.

Remember the scene from the movie "Prime Cut" where they drove a '69 Cadillac into a hay baler?

[TG57Roadmaster]

Count me in as addicted to old cars in film, as I never tire of watching them. A '56 Lincoln Premiere

stars in "5 Steps to Danger," with Ruth Roman and Sterling Hayden (1957).

I've only seen it once, and look forward to it again.

The car appears in much of the film, with chase scenes, suburban shots, close-ups, etc.

The two images below are from contact sheets (found on ebay) from the movie's shooting...

Larger

Larger

Forget the tepid Cold War plot line (my TCM review), it's definitely worth a watch for the Premiere's "star turn."

TG

[Lawteachr]

Hot Cars a 1956 Movie, shot on a few car lots in California.MG, Mercedes and quite a few Chrysler Products.

[Rusty_OToole]

High School Confidential features an Imperial convertible, Hillman convertible, a rockin hot rod race and a 49 Ford with drugs hidden in the glove compartment. Look closely at the interior shot of the 49 Ford, it has pin striping and weirdo figures by Von Dutch on the instrument panel.

[OldsDoug]

Count me in as addicted to old cars in film, as I never tire of watching them. A '56 Lincoln Premiere

stars in "5 Steps to Danger," with Ruth Roman and Sterling Hayden (1957).

I've only seen it once, and look forward to it again.

The car appears in much of the film, with chase scenes, suburban shots, close-ups, etc.

(snip)

TG

Interesting, I'd like to see that one - I wonder if NetFlix has it... never seen a Ruth Roman film - she was one of the passengers rescued from the Andrea Doria after it collided with the Stockholm in July 1956 off Nantucket - one of my other interests. (Car content, the $150,000 Chrysler Norseman show car, designed by Ghia, was being shipped to the US from Italy on the Doria and was lost when the Doria sank after the collision.)

How's _that_ for hijacking a thread?

DK

[OldsDoug]

I too think I was born in the wrong era as I would had a ball growing up in the 40s and 50s with all the cheap 30s cars to play with.

I grew up in the '50s and I wonder how many pre-war cars survived WWII and the immediate aftermath... I would guess that many cars that were "old" when the war started were scrapped for the war materiel... then a few years after the war, the auto makers were introducing new modern models and I bet a bunch more pre-war cars were junked or traded or whatever at that point...

I became cognizant of cars when I was about four years old, no kidding, and that was in 1954... by that time, there were still some late '30s and early '40s cars on the road, but I remember the majority being post-war...

[Rusty_OToole]

I grew up in the '50s and I wonder how many pre-war cars survived WWII and the immediate aftermath... I would guess that many cars that were "old" when the war started were scrapped for the war materiel... then a few years after the war, the auto makers were introducing new modern models and I bet a bunch more pre-war cars were junked or traded or whatever at that point...

I became cognizant of cars when I was about four years old, no kidding, and that was in 1954... by that time, there were still some late '30s and early '40s cars on the road, but I remember the majority being post-war...

I was born in 51 and clearly remember prewar cars in everyday use. Not very many but they were around. The oldest I remember were 38 Plymouth or Dodge sedans, and 36 Chev 2 door sedan. This would be about 1955. They were all off the road by 1960.

A friend of mine had a grandfather who owned a junkyard. His dad used to pick up cheap cars there. He tells me for a time in the fifties, his family car was a Model T sedan. At the time it was just cheap transportation.

[30 Hupp]

In 1951, when I was 4, we still drove a Model "A"!

[Guest broker-bob]

I like old movies from the early 30s silent films our gang,, Charlie Caplin, buster Keyton,some times you can find at retail stores in discound rack you will see cars that really cool and a different way of making movies also the early keystone cops----again early 30s---------------nothing but old car chases all this stuff has been put on DVD 25 years ago I picked up a box of old real to real movies at Hershey about a flood they had in western PA again alot of old cars I AGREE WITH WHO EVER STATED THIS THREAD

[OldsDoug]

I was born in 51 and clearly remember prewar cars in everyday use. Not very many but they were around. The oldest I remember were 38 Plymouth or Dodge sedans, and 36 Chev 2 door sedan. This would be about 1955. They were all off the road by 1960.

A friend of mine had a grandfather who owned a junkyard. His dad used to pick up cheap cars there. He tells me for a time in the fifties, his family car was a Model T sedan. At the time it was just cheap transportation.

I would guess that here in the Washington DC area, the ratio by 1954 or '55 was about one in ten... there were a lot of '47 and '48 Fords around into the early and middle '60s... in high school (I graduated in 1968), many of us drove the family's second cars, which (if they weren't VWs or Corvairs!) were ten-year-old Detroit iron... one guy had a '54 Hudson that I always coveted!

[John_Maine]

Almost forgot one of my favorites - "Thunder Road" with Robert Micthum. Loved that movie when I was a kid and found it on DVD. I need to watch it again. Loved the '57 Ford Fairlane he had, then when he drove through the road block and his mechanic gave him a price of $300 or so to completely replace the front end - fenders, grille, hood, etc.

[CarlLaFong]

The Dukes of Hazzard has had more exaggeration and outright lies told about the General Lee cars than Carter has pills. There were 147 episodes. There was not a car, much less two or three, wrecked in every episode. Many episodes barely featured the car at all. I worked in studio transportation, at TBS (now, Warner Bros.) during the entire run of the series. The, so called, big players who claim to have built and supplied the producers with hundreds of General Lees are, to be blunt, liars. There were no secret spy planes hunting for Chargers. That is perfectly idiotic. There were never, as I read on another board, a hundred GLs parked in rows in the backlot. There was not enough room for that many cars even if all the other equipment was moved. All of these BS stories have been told over and over again by people trying to inflate their resumes and their egos and become legends in their own minds.

Like the Kink's said, "Everybody's a dreamer, everybody's a star."

[Dave Mellor NJ]

Another favorite series that we would all like to see reruns of again (especially all you MOtors and PARts guys) is "Car 54 Where Are You?"

[rocketraider]

Like the Kink's said, "Everybody's a dreamer, everybody's a star."

Like this? One of my favorite guitar licks. Dave Davies at his most inspired, and that's saying something.

[ghostymosty]

The Dukes of Hazzard has had more exaggeration and outright lies told about the General Lee cars than Carter has pills. There were 147 episodes. There was not a car, much less two or three, wrecked in every episode. Many episodes barely featured the car at all. I worked in studio transportation, at TBS (now, Warner Bros.) during the entire run of the series. The, so called, big players who claim to have built and supplied the producers with hundreds of General Lees are, to be blunt, liars. There were no secret spy planes hunting for Chargers. That is perfectly idiotic. There were never, as I read on another board, a hundred GLs parked in rows in the backlot. There was not enough room for that many cars even if all the other equipment was moved. All of these BS stories have been told over and over again by people trying to inflate their resumes and their egos and become legends in their own minds.

Like the Kink's said, "Everybody's a dreamer, everybody's a star."

I always had suspicions that two cars I sold ended up on that show. Sold a brown/black 71 Satellite Sebring a month or so before Daisey's car was a yellow 71 in an episode. Two guys were interested in the car for the 'engine' that had thrown the timing chain, just a 318, yeah right. The other car was a blue/white 68 Charger with a 383. Both cars were in Riverside, CA at the same house a year or so apart, even had someone try to buy the Charger the same day I bought it and drove it home.

[keiser31]

Ask the "Guru of MoPars" Galen Govier about the number of Chargers made up for the show...Total # of Dodge Chargers Used during Original Production: 240

Total # of Dodge Chargers To Survive Production: 18

(Warner Brothers gave 17 away to private owners in 1993)

I have seen the photos of the back lot with the Chargers lined up in various stages of demolition when they were given away/sold. There were a LOT more than just a few.

Oh yeah....I saw the photos LONG before photoshop was available.

Edited January 11, 2011 by keiser31 (see edit history)

[Marty Roth]

I would guess the towncar is a 1931 Packard

[CarlLaFong]

I'm sure the "Guru" only knows what he was told or what he read, since he did not work on the show. All I can say is I was, physically, on that lot five days a week for, almost, nine years. I never saw the backlot full of General Lees. I do not and never will buy the exaggerated claims. I know what I saw with my own eyes. As to the cars given away in 93, I have to raise the brown flag again. The studios do not keep anything anymore. Once a show is over, it is over. Warner Bros. out grew their lot many years ago. There is no room left to store vehicles that have outlived their usefulness. They are like chickens that no longer lay. Into the stewpot they go. I and a friend built the 59 Cads for "Fandango", an early Kevin Costner film. Once the film was in the can, the Cads went to the crusher. They weren't saved.

I find the same load of nonsense all the time regarding the Easy Rider bikes. There's always one on eBay, "One of 12 bikes built for the movie." Hogwash

[Dave@Moon]

There is no room left to store vehicles that have outlived their usefulness. They are like chickens that no longer lay. Into the stewpot they go.

Why wouldn't this be true during the show's run as well. What's in question here is what would've been done with spent/wrecked cars. Of course they're not going to be stored in valuable, studio backlot space. In fact, why would they have been stored at all? Who needs a wrecked/damaged/cut up car from 3 years ago?

I have no idea whether hundreds and or thousands of people have been lying about how many 10-15 year old, cheaply obtained cars were destroyed during a TV show's production run 30 years ago. I do know that this forum is the only place I've ever heard differently, and that looking for wrecked cars in the place where they were wrecked is not often a fruitful endeavor after only a few hours.

[keiser31]

Since I was not there and cannot say I witnessed the lot full of Chargers, I will say that it is a shame that cars and trucks are wrecked, but they were not as desirable when the films were made (in most cases). Maybe the photo I saw was a wrecking yard.