Do you have a favorite vintage movie car?

[Edward]

Mmn. Tough call. I love that cab in the Shadow... were I ever to have the cash, time and need of a car here in London, I'd adore something like that, not sure that it'd be best practical, though!

I would'nt be surprised if George Lucas did tamper with the cars: I read on this forum a while back that he's already altered some shots to turn a grey sky a blazing sunset for the DVD....

[kpreed]

For anyone who does not know, the "Topper" movie car was a 1937 Buick Century.

Cord (my in-laws had a 1937) went broke and many car bodies got sold to other auto makers.
On fiberglass repro cars they have made a few for a long time. They are nice, but not cheep. Just my two cents.

[Tomasso]

I've been enamored with the Rolls Royce Phantom Sedanca de Villes of the 30's since childhood, after seeing them appear in two movies in the same year (1964); The Yellow Rolls Royce and Goldfinger.

[The Wingnut]

Not Golden Era...

My first car was a '68 Plymouth Fury III 2 door hardtop. I joined a Chrysler products club as a result, and one day we got a caravan together, drove 100 miles, and saw in a theater the world's last screenable copy of 1971's Vanishing Point, starring Barry Newman and an Alpine White 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T.



I was RIVETED. It wasn't because it was cool, the movie wasn't supposed to be cool(although ask anyone and they'll say it is...), it was a social commentary with an unusual delivery, a delivery that most couldn't grasp. The scenes with the JB Pickers' Freedom of Expression wailing in my ears along with a wrung-out 440 backed by a pistol-gripped 4-speed, Highway 80 and all of its stark scenery whipping by, amazing camera work all combined to blow my mind. I've wanted to roar across the Nevada desert on I-80 with acid rock blaring in my ears ever since.



...now you can't get a Challenger of any ilk for under 40 grand. I should have bought the one I saw 10 years ago for $1200.

[David Conwill]

IMO, American Graffiti shouldn't be touched...maybe the blue would look good on Milners Deuce, but in no way would a 409 Impy top Falfas 454 '55...and i'm pretty sure the Pharaoh Merc' didn't have any rake...just lowered a bit...
here's another of my favorites:

It's not so much the funky yellow on Milner's Deuce, but the chopped grille shell and the unchannelled body that screws the car up for me. The proportions on Idzardi's car are just so much more on.

As far as Falfa's car, while the '55 gasser is cool (although the 396-427-454 engines weren't out until 1965), I think that having a factory muscle car challenging the homebuilt hot rod makes a much stronger statement about the end of the hot rod era and the beginning of "bought rodding." It would be all the better if the car still had dealer plates on it.

As for the Merc, it's been a while and I can't find a good shot, but I do remember thinking the car sat funny for a lead sled.

Oh well.

As for Bullitt - yep, that's probably the world's greatest car chase. It has certainly influenced the way I have fixed up my Camaro. I had the pleasure to watch that film in an Art Deco movie palace in Bay City, Michigan not too long ago. A great experience indeed.

-Dave

[SamMarlowPI]

It's not so much the funky yellow on Milner's Deuce, but the chopped grille shell and the unchannelled body that screws the car up for me. The proportions on Idzardi's car are just so much more on.

As far as Falfa's car, while the '55 gasser is cool (although the 396-427-454 engines weren't out until 1965), I think that having a factory muscle car challenging the homebuilt hot rod makes a much stronger statement about the end of the hot rod era and the beginning of "bought rodding." It would be all the better if the car still had dealer plates on it.

have to remember that this was set in '62 where kids didn't have brand new cars, like a '62 impy, and all their money(milner and falfa) went into hot rodding whatever car they got their hands on, hence the reason we see the kids driving around in '32, '55, '58, '56, '29 and don't see them in anything new...just like today where the average teenager that can drive, unless wealthy, have older cars or use their parents cars and hod rod or "tune" whatever they can get like civics and whatnot...anyway i'm off topic here, another of my favorites is from a contemporary(and not the greatest of films) film with an older car: Highwaymen and the '68 'Cuda SS

[Liz]

Norma Desmond's Isotta Fraschini, no question. I've been obsessed with that car since the first time I saw Sunset Boulevard.

[Doh!]

When I was a kid, I had the Corgi version of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang:

[Tomasso]

Norma Desmond's Isotta Fraschini, no question. I've been obsessed with that car since the first time I saw Sunset Boulevard.

Yes, that's a very cool ride. I posted it on the Favorite Cars of the Golden Era thread.



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[SamMarlowPI]

that is a beautiful car...