RonG I just found a trailer for that movie on Youtube and that car clip your talking about is shown...What are the odds? Hey there is some hotrods in the trailer too! Link...
That image at the top of the page is from later in the movie when they are trying to tow the car out from the ravine. It gets moved a little by the tow truck, but they don't show it getting pulled out of the ravine. I'm assuming the movie was filmed out of sequence and the scene of it rolling down the cliff in the beginning of the movie was probably filmed last.
I never forgot this thread, and for five years, I wondered if anyone ever got back down there. It got me motivated to check out the gully that I found a 30s something Dodge in, as a teenager, and grabbed these off. 37 Dodge. So after checking it out many years later, I find out the gully was filled in. This thread is similar to the AD Chevy truck down the revine that got turned into a bridge. I think part of the buzz with this stuff, is due to the idea of, Free.
Here's a story for the Colorado HAMBers. I was a surveyor in Summit County during the early 1970's. My wife and I moved to Ft. Collins during the winter survey lull where she worked for a doctor as a RN. One of the patients found out that she had lived in Summit County and as the doctor prohibited him to travel to that altitude, asked if she had any photographs of Breckenridge. She replied yes and was asked if she would bring them over to their home some evening. The guy and his wife were really cool. He was born and raised in Summit County and his father worked for Ben Stanley Revett. I worked for a restoration shop in Loveland, Co and a fellow employee told me this tall tail of a fellow he knew was in Summit County working construction on Dillion resevoir and dam, fishing a small lake that required hiking to. He stayed too long and darkness set in and he got hopelessly lost in the dark. When the sun came up he found his way out at Swan Mountain Road. He told this story about stumbling on a homestead site that had a small building and the remains of a cabin foundation. He pryed the door open on the shed and discovered an automobile inside. He said it was on blocks and covered with carpets. When asked what make it was he drew a R over the top of another R. Said it had a 1916 Colorado plate. During the evening I remembered this tail and asked the gentleman if he could remember anyone that owned a large automobile and he said yes that his dad's boss had a automobile that was driven by a chauffer. The chauffer would come to Breckenridge at the spring thaw and retrieve the automobile and pick up Mr. Revett at the train station in Breckenridge. I asked if he knew where the automobile was kept and he replied that no one did as Mr. Revett's house was ransacked and everything was removed but for a suit of clothes. After that all his belongings were removed every year and the automobile was kept in a very secluded place. I've spent many weekends and summer vacations looking. I've spent countless hours on Google maps looking at Summit County. At the time I was in my twenties and the hiking was tough. Now in my seventies I doubt I'll get back on the trail. Access across private land is a big problem now which means you have to hike in on public land and double back to a area you want to search. At the time the USFS said it could be removed but you couldn't cut a tree to get it out and the whole county was clear cut during the gold rush for lumber and is now covered in what is described as dog hair lodge pole pine. With all the beetle kill the prospect may have improved. At 8000 plus it will take several trips to air lift it out. There is a lot of rough land up there to search and then it might have just been another one of Roy's tall tails.
This is mostly a curiosity now as that car is pretty much toast at this point but the most likely way to find out would be to contact someone whom was involved in the movie production (credits at end). I am sure someone is still around that may have that information. What would be just as interesting would be what became of the other Hamb friendly cars. Great Sunday entertainment. There are many forgotten stories to be discovered and dots connected...Just checked out the IMDb site about the movie and it says outdoor scenes were filmed in Cielo, Texas, USA. Many of the people involved in the film are deceased so that would be a long shot to get a definitive answer. Some funny moments one at 12:15 minute mark of movie check it out for a chuckle. Buddy knows how to play the game. Couple more stills...
Kiwi your Vin tag is GM and that trim is Dodge. Not sure if you noticed...If where you found those is anything like Ontario, weather wise I can understand as stuff falls right apart from rot.
Thanks for that, now I'm real stumped, due to both pieces coming from the same car. It was the only one down there, and it was upside down. I live on the edge of a rain forest, next to the sea, so everything rots fast here. The car was 20 miles inland, and now buried under tons of dirt, so I'll never solve this mystery, unless I can find an old local, who may know. It was in a little town, called Ahaura. I'm going to Google earth it and see if I can find the exact location. My buddy who took us to the car, still lives in Ahaura, so that's a start.
I tried to decipher that GM data plate and it is as unusual as the 40 at the bottom of a hill with a safe. The plate has several areas blank...Body, Trim, Paint. It may have been a Passenger or Sedan Delivery (Master) These links have info about GM data. http://www.p385.com/Bailey/images/53.Chevy/1929 - 1958 Chevrolet Model Identification.pdf http://www.gregwapling.com/hotrod/chev-trucks-47-55/canadian-chev.html That does sound bizarre perhaps tags were switched at some point by hoodlums
Only thing I can think of, is there may have been another car under the wreakage, and I was to young to know what I was looking at, and thought it all the same car.
It was a good theory but the film was shot in Texas and the car in the movie has a Texas plate. "Giant Gila Monster", a great movie with a great name. But wait! There's more! "Giant Gila Monster" was produced by KEN CURTIS! Yes that Ken Curtis from "Gun Smoke". Wow!
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