Custom bodied Cord in the original "Topper" movie?

I just saw the original "Topper" with Cary Grant...

In it he drives a Custom Bodied Cord Looking Car...

It's a roadster with a Hallock windshield and a back like a single finned Cris Craft speed boat.

Anybody know anything about it?

 

It's on the auction block next month! I'll post the link if I can find it.

 

it's actually a Buick! www.imcdb.org

 

Here are some photo's of it...the car was changed several times. New grille and fade away fenders on the later version.

The car was built in 1936 by Maurice Schwartz (Coachbuilder Bohman & Schwartz) based on a design by Anthony Garrity. The car was constructed around a Buick chassis.








This is the current state of the car.... man I love that trailer

 

The engine noises in the sound track for this flick will leave you gasping for air when you finally quit laughing ...
What is the '63 Cal CN 3940 plate - early "Special Plates" issue ?
Thanks,
302

 

Kool movie. The sequels were kool too. The original version was definately the best, although somewhat goofy looking even then. The current version shown looks like hell wouldn't have it. WTF is up with that grille?

 

Is that really the same car, or was there an early and later built car? Hard to believe they could screw up the looks of the first one that badly.

 

My thoughts exactly. Are you sure it's the same car?

 

Perhaps this car suffered the same fate as so many '49-'51 Mercs did in
the 70s and '80s i.e. square head lamps, different grilles and goofy wheel
and tyre combinations, all with the notion that these were "improvements"
on the original concept.

Swankey Devils C.C.

 

That's the trailer plate- that's the series that ran on those- different than passenger car.

That's definitely the same car, just suffered the fate of many movie cars that were updated for different projects. My dad has a '35 Auburn Phaeton that was owned for many years by MGM Studios from new- it was customized slightly over the years and fitted with a Cadillac engine and complete suspension from an F-1 pickup. By the quality of the work they had some talented people in the
auto shop. While the grille is ugly- the work on the Topper car looks pretty good as well.

 

The car was re done after the movie and called the Gillmor Special with the strange jet intake grill. Brian

 

a few more photo's of the Gilmore special with the new grille but without the full fadeaway fenders. Photo's come from Dan Post's Blue book of Custom Restyling. (photo's posted from Huffreport.com)

 

Does anyone know who bought the car and where it is today?

I corrected the subject line from Cord to Buick because the Topper car is based on a Buick, as it says in the thread.

 

I saw the movie again a few months ago... thanks for the info on the car.

 

There appears to be quite a bit of confusion about this car (or cars). It was in Tulsa Oklahoma in a gentleman named Jack Hitt's garage, back in 2000. I saw it in person. It was in very rough shape, at that time. I believe there are a few cars claiming to be the original. I'm not sure we will ever be positive which one is the actual vehicle in question. I might have been looking at a clone, or a "double"...who knows???? I have extensive newspaper and magazine articles regarding the car from back in the day, and there seems to be too many sightings and claims to be accurate.

 

I would think the one that went through RM Auctions in '06 and sold in the six figures probably was well documented.

http://www.rmauctions.com/CarDetails.cfm?SaleCode=BC06&CarID=r516&Currency

That is a TON of work to clone that car, especially with the changes it had over the years from grilles to tail lamps and to an Imperial chassis and Hemi from the original '36 Buick and straight 8. And then there is the trailer which appears untouched at RM.

Have pics of Hitt's car?

 

I see some similarities with Harley Earl's "Le Sabre" prototype.

 

I really expect some sharp-eyed HAMBer has seen this car in the last four years (since sold at auction) and can tell us where it is today. Anyone?
Is it in some dusty warehouse or displayed in some museum or is someone working on the car in a shop? Enquiring minds want to know!

 

I apologize if this is thread drift, but I gotta wonder if the same design ideas in the Topper car inspired the '51 Lesabre concept car. Who designed the Topper car? Was Harley Earl involved?

I wonder how many of these are around? I just did a quick search and can't find one for sale.

http://www.conceptcarz.com/view/photo/312602,998/1951-Buick-LeSabre-Concept_photo.aspx

http://www.conceptcarz.com/view/photo/128633,998/1951-Buick-LeSabre-Concept_photo.aspx

 

The car is currently at the Peterson Auto Museum currently on display. I saw this past weekend while attending the GNRS. It really is sad to see it in person with that front end. It looks way out of proportion. I took pics of it but my card is at home. I will post pics of it later.

 

Here is the pic I took of it.. I really dont like it. Sorry....

 

The car was designed by Anthony Garrity in 1936 for Hal Roach, director for the Topper movie. It has no association whatsoever with the Buick LeSabre show car by Harley Earl done some fifteen years later.

The attached photo shows the designer's original front end, not the promotional front end put on, and still on, as used by Gilmore Oil Co. The car was originally custom bodied by the coachbuilding firm of Bohman & Schwarz. I would agree it would be best brought back to the original stylist's intentions! Time to get back to the pontoon fenders and lose the Caddy tail lamps also.

 

Yeah, I read up on it after I posted the question, but when you consider the tailfins and the big nose up front, I can't help but wonder if ol' Harley wasn't influenced by this car.

I do like the original design better and can definitely see where you might assume it was built from a Cord.

 

I wonder if that trailer was made from the leftover parts of the car's original fenders?

 

The trailer is really in a different scale or however you might want to say it and I've read somewhere that it was made years later after the original movie when Gilmore Oil Co needed to pull a generator behind the car for the sound system and promotions they did with the car. Trailer carries the gen.

 

When I was a kid between 1962 - 1967 we lived on Herron St. in Sylmar Ca. and a Mr. Wilson lived next door. This car in it's Mobilgas trim was in his garage. He'd have it out several times in the summer for wash and wax. We didn't give a fiddlers damn about it. Stupid kids. Dumb, dumb

 

1937 Topper movie still




1959 Roadracers









1964 The Killers

 

I was fortunate enough to drive that car back in the '70s at the now defunct Ontario Speedway. My neighbors nephew worked for Cars of the Stars. The "Happy Days" family sedan was also in attendance along with Cal Worthington and his dog "Spot" a real tiger. It was very different kind of car to drive. The very sad part....I have no pictures!!!! Bummer! I do have the race day program which included Janet Guthrie.

 

Hey,

As much as we'd all like to see the original version of the "Topper Buick"
history is what it is. When this vehicle was rebuilt in the 40's the original look woulda been considered very ''old hat". The pontoon fenders & the deco/industrial design woulda been looked at much as we would look at a kustom built in the 80's with square quad headlamps & loud paint: dated & dumb! The ''flow-thru" body line & the age of goddie chrome was all the rage. Herb Newport & Everet Miller did some design work for coachbuilder Bohman & Schwartz after the war, but I don't know that we can blame the second iteration on either of them. Perhaps the work of the Gilmore shops or an independent shop?

" Life ain't no Disney Movie "

 

Couldn't help myself... in spite of some ugly duckling details i think there's a swan in there somewhere...