Hot Rods Movies and Period Correct Cars?

Just found this thread and thought I might put in my two cents. Before anybody says anything about not having pictures, back in California in 1968 I didn't own a camera and made barely enough money to keep my motorcycle and beater car running. I owned a bunch of Harley parts that I bought for next to nothing from an old salvage yard near Pismo Beach. The parts had been impounded by the Santa Barbara County Sheriffs. I decided to make a road trip to do some selling and trading with my buddy Duck. We did pretty good down around San Diego and got a lead on a motorcycle club that lived in an old lemon warehouse up near Oxnard. Some of the California members on here might remember a club called the "Question Marks". Duck and I found the place alright and checked in with the guys that were there. They had a heck of a setup with a big garage area, body shop, real paint booth and a machine shop. We did some dealing on bike parts and then a couple of the club members asked us if we wanted to see the rest of the place. The Cars of the Stars outfit used the lemon warehouse for storage.

The Question Marks got to live there and use all the facilities to work on their bikes in exchange for being​

combination watchmen, mechanics and body men on the cars stowed there. First thing I saw was an 56 Facel Vega with a Chrysler drive train, push button tranny and the plushest interior I'd ever seen. Then it was about a dozen 20s and 30s Fords in Yellow Cab colors and the Elva Mk.VI that Elvis drove in "Viva Las Vegas. The Elva looked tired. Almost everything in there were original, untouched cars that got rented out to movie studios. Some were drivers and some were just scenery. Had I been a little smarter at the time, I would have tried trading for car parts instead of cheap (at the time) H-D stuff. Anyway, it was a heck of an experience.

 

Hello,

We have been watching one of the best shows on subscription, streaming TV. “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” is a show about a woman that wants to do something with her life. It is period correct in that it starts in the 50s and goes through the early 60s. All of the cars are/were period correct and fit right into the show. The dresses and even the suitcases are period correct. The researchers did a good job of being up to date with things 50s-early 60s.

It is an Amazon Studios Project, staring Rachel Brosnahan, and this is the 3rd season. It is certainly fun to watch a period correct show, talking about things we grew up doing and seeing. The characters are just classic and the show is IMHO one of the best on current TV. The 3rd season just started in early December and you can start here, but you might as well go back to the beginning of season 1 & 2 and get the whole background into the family and characters. It could be your “binge watching” show, just to catch up to the 3rd season presentation. It is like watching a super long movie with the three seasons of shows.

The show follows the trials and tribulations of Mrs. Maisel. Up to this point, the cars were just outstanding. But, (spoiler alert) while watching several episodes of the new season 3, up pops this scene that made me re-focus my eyes. A 1957 Chevy lines up against a 55 Chevy at a midnight drag race, supposedly outside of Las Vegas. The cars are definitely period correct and it takes place on a shortened dragstrip with the 50s-60s cars lined up to light up the race course.

This part was a lot of fun to watch. The cars were the best part and they were realistic. Then the topper of the few minutes of the Las Vegas drag racing scenes showed two custom Mercury/Ford Sedans lowered, colorful and ready to race. One of the characters was coaxed into racing with the main character acting as the colorful starting line flag girl.

The scene is exciting and fun. Just like in real life back in those late 50s and early 60s scenes in So Cal, as well as elsewhere drag racing took place.

Jnaki

It is not just my favorite TV streaming show, but my wife loves the old car sections and the clothes that people wore back then. This series portrays a good time era in those late 50s and early 60s. In those good old days, we were teenagers usually doing some silly stuff to get along in our simple life and world.

Custom Mercury/Ford sedans ready to race…

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/what-you-see-today.1059262/page-52#post-13298807

 

Do you guys notice when a background car keeps getting used over and over in a movie - like the green Volkswagen Beetle in Bullet. They do a really good job in the new Netflix movie The Irishman at being period correct... but they do reuse some background cars pretty heavily. I won’t spoil it for you guys and let you figure them out!

 

Sometimes car clubs provide the cars and the film has all one make.

 

A Junior Johnson car used for this footage for the movie Red Line 7000

 

You ever watch any of the black and white Andy Griffith shows? You will usually see the same cars sitting parked along the street or being slowly driven by. Seems like there is always a Comet and a 58 or 59 Chevy around, every once in a while you'll see a VW beetle parked. They had a mixture of makes, but used the same cars most of the time, maybe they were owned by the film crew?

 

The movie ‘8 Below’ about sled dogs in Antarctica has a bush plane on skis, plane has turboprop motor but makes radial engine sounds......

 

Mine was used this spring in a film that has not been released yet. I only got $200 a day but the food tent was amazing.
I could have made more money at work but it was fun and I hope they call me again next time they are in town. They did have us (50s and 60s) out there one day and one of the female producers came up and asked "these aren't 40s cars are they?" Needless to say, it was a mix up and we didn't get used that day. Just sat with a bunch of old car guys and BSed all day. The hardest part was shooting on a curvy back two lane and having to do 3 point turns with no shoulder on the road and no power steering or brakes several times in a hurry.

 

Universal Studio in California was once known to have one of the largest vintage care collections that they used for movies and TV. On one of our visits in the 70's our young Son was having a lengthy conversation with that TV muscle car that talked. He was so excited telling us what they talked about. I think he believed the car really talked to him. We later took a tour of the back lot where many of the old cars and shops are. Along the tour he spotted several of the talking cars, smashed bodies and parts. I will always remember the strange look of confusion on his face. Dad had a lot of explaining to do that day. The next day I took him to George Barris's shop where the cars don't talk but according to him they were real cool. He is now an automotive engineer in his 40's and I am praying I don't have to explain that Santa thing to him some day.

 

You always need to understand the context. Motherless Brooklyn was shot on location in 46 days with a small for Hollywood $26 million budget. I suspect they had a limited budget of time/money to get the cars. Also Ed Norton who produced the film and wrote the screenplay was definitely going for a "film noir" vibe which the '40's cars have more than the '50's ones.

 

I was a wee fella in the 70's. In high school, one of my favorite shows was "The Wonder Years". I think i was only able to find one goof up the entire run of that series(a late seventies four door driving by, waaaay in the background)

 

Stand By Me is one of my all time favorite movies but I hate when they get to the junkyard and its filled with 58 and 59 rusted out junk cars when the movie takes place in 59. Also check out The Irishman, the new Scorcese film on Netflix. DeNiro's character breaks down in his 47-53 chevy truck and Pesci's character comes over , looks at the the engine, touches a distributor wire then tells him the problem is his timing chain. He wiggles the wire then tells him to start the truck and everything is magically ok. Also bothered me that the heater core isn't hooked up in the truck. Just a few that I've noticed.

 

There was an 80's TV show Crime Story with Dennis Farina set in Las Vegas in the 60's that we liked. At the time we owned an Aztec Bronze 58 Chevy and we would spot a similar looking one they used as one of the cars on the street in many of the episodes. The kids got a kick out of it and when they spotted it in a scene they would say hey, there is our car again parked on the street or going down the road.

 

I think we can all agree that we go to movies to enjoy but I too look for mistakes and even the best are filled with bloopers even Tarantino's set people if you do not fall asleep or as I did switched it off there are cars that are wrong for the period in the little I watched it was pretty well loaded with the F word and boring as shit.if you watch again with eyes open you will see them.

 

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Hello,

Although the whole movie takes place during the 1966-69 era in So Cal, the Hollywood area plays a central part. There were some shots that stand out and we all wonder how they did all of the store fronts. A little research says they put up the new store fronts and movie marquee and after the shots, they are taken down.

The cars are there all day for moving shots. It is nice that despite the 1969 main theme, there were quite a few early 1960’s hot rods and cruisers on the streets, from Econoline vans, to convertibles, to sedans, to hardtops and the family 4 door sedans.

The movie shows various parts of So Cal normally not seen. But, the Westwood Village movie location looked the same as back in 1963-65 when we were doing some 12am to 5am study sessions in the nearby UCLA library stacks. It was one of the only places that stayed open that late. Since those times, we have been in that movie theater many times in 66-70 era.

There were a ton of movie stars in this exciting movie. But, they were scattered all over the movies and flashbacks in strange roles. (See if you can pick them out...)The Steve McQueen character was spot on, in dress, style and movements.

The topper to this whole movie, besides the great plot turn around, is someone like Brad Pitt wearing a yellow Lions Dragstrip T-Shirt, just being as casual as only he can be. What is not to like there? My wife thought it was the highlight of the movie. “Cool Hand, Brad… not Luke” His performance in the movie is worthy of a Golden Globe and Oscar in a few months.

Jnaki
The plot reversal, outstanding…


And, throughout the rest of the show, he wears a Champion Spark Plug T-Shirt. How nice.

 

Crime Story. Too bad it only lasted two seasons. Created by the same guy who created Miami Vice, Michael Mann.

 

Hello,

In these nights of “Streaming TV shows,” we have fun picking out some obscure movies that actually surprise us. This movie, A Kind of Murder” just appealed to our “detective in the brain” sighting of the title. We knew the actors and were some of our favorites over the years of watching movies and TV shows.

Jessica Biel and Hayley Bennett, what more could one ask?
How about some period correct cool old cars?


The main character drives a 1959 Corvette, despite the fact that he looks very uncomfortable in the seat.

1955 Chevy two door sedan, Rambler sedan crossing, The Detective’s Chevy sedan parked across the street

The main character’s nemesis is the 1959 era, tough detective following the case. We have learned in more modern police detective shows that one never admits to being able to solve the case with a guarantee… But, in 1959, things were different in the show. Tough guy, shaky police work, but drives a cool Chevy sedan.

1950-51 Chevy sedan for the leading detective

Since the main character is a wealthy architect with turtleneck sweaters, his house is just fantastic in design and form. It is pure mid-century modern with all of the famous furniture styles and interior angles and accessories. In almost every city, there were a slew of mid century modern homes.

1959 Cadillac Convertible, a porthole 57 Thunderbird and a black Comet Sedan

Jnaki

During this time period, several of our friends had Mid-Century Modern homes in the Bixby Knolls area and were pretty cool. The local Bixby Knolls, famous architect made plenty of this style of homes. They were cool and unusual at the same time. Glass walls, circular stairs, sunken living rooms, enclosed gardens, etc. were all part of the package.

 

Once upon a time in Hollywood got it right Music cars I think they did a great job

 

My wife was just watching something on Netflix. Took place in 1929 and they show a 1931 Model A in one of the opening scenes. She didn't understand why I even noticed it.

 

Crime Story originally based its stories in Chicago and the sets always had a nicely gritty historical feel to them. The premiere episode struck me as something that, with a little extra effort, could have been made into a theatrical movie.

Even when the stories shifted to Las Vegas there was plenty of great eye-candy to study in the background. Plus, Dennis Farina was a great match for his role and his Chrysler 300 convertible was a perfect fit. Even when the plots got a bit flakey in the later shows they were still worth watching.

 

One "goof" that the film people should have picked up was in Bullitt with Steve McQueen. In the famous car chase with the Mustang and Charger, during the chase the hubcaps from the Charger can be seen coming off several times. When the Charger hits the gas pumps and explodes you can see the hubcaps come off again. On most movie sets there is what is known as a "continuity" person that should pick up mistakes as such.

 

My contribution for car spotting would be the TV series, Magic City. It's a late 50s, Miami timeline and setting so you get a lot of pastel/2-tone/convert'/Dagmar/chrome but the cars are stars, for sure. Be warned that the characters have low moral issues but the vehicles are high society.

You old-timers will remember the big flap over Payola in 1960 over radio DJs taking money to push certain records to the forefront on the airwaves. Well, Hollywood production companies did (and still do) a similar tactic. Television shows, in particular, would feature a certain make of car depending on which manufacturer was the "high bidder". The more positive the role of the vehicle in the show, the better. If you revisit some of those older TV shows, you will probably notice the pattern if you're looking for it.

 

Hello,

Riverdale is a CW Channel drama derived from the old Archie Comic Books from the 50’s. It is fun to watch and remember reading all of those comics back in those pre teen days. The comic characters are the base model with quirks and laughter. The modern TV version has some adaptations of those same characters, but with looks of the real life action and scenes.

The series takes advantage of the base story and brings it to the screen with a little pizzazz. It is set in modern times, but locked into the historic 50s-60s time period. It is not a pre teen or even for some teenager viewers as there is a lot of adult things and subjects that are not for the timid or impressionable kids. Despite being on national TV, there is violence and a lot of over the top role playing.

Jnaki
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/friday-art-show-6-14-19.1153592/#post-13121942 Archie Phaeton
from season 3
But, as “locked in place” people, there are a lot of fun things and an intricate story line going on into this 4th season. We watched it as if it were a 19 episode long movie, one after another. The current season was cut short due to the coronavirus pandemic shutting down production, but the most recent episode ended with a cliffhanger. (There are 19 episodes out of 22 including the finale.)

The latest:

“Riverdale Season 4 has now come to an end three episodes early, with Season 4, Episode 19 ("Killing Mr. Honey") acting as the season finale of The CW show. That episode may have ended with the latest twist of the videotape voyeur mystery, but fans were deprived of the senior prom and graduation that the season seemed to have been leading up to. However, the show has promised fans that they will still get to see the cast graduate. According to the producer, Riverdale Season 5 (which has been confirmed by The CW) will start with the three episodes that remain unaired from Season 4.”

“The first of these will feature the prom, while the finale will be the Riverdale High graduation. It felt like since we have such big events like prom and graduation, and we'd already written [Episodes] 21 and 22... they're big, emotional episodes, and there's a lot of stuff with the characters that we're still playing out, so it felt like maybe what we'll do is start with the last three episodes.”


NOTES FROM THE SIDELINES:the original diner is located in British Columbia. It has a long standing history and has been recreated for the show.
in the area of Mission, B.C.
Rocko’s Diner in Mission was transformed into Pop’s Chock’lit Shoppe. Then, the studio made their own diner on the studio lot, saving time reconstructing the facade over again like the first seasons.


The cars in the series are period correct and some are outstanding versions that used to cruise around in the 50s and 60s, when we were all younger.

 

Perry Mason, There is a great period when everyone drove around in some great 50ish cars.

 

Just watched "Bikini Beach", for the umpteenth time last night. At one point, after a drag race with the 'rails', a car comes into view, just for a moment. Never shown again in the film. I looked to me, like a 57 El Morocco! Black, with white or silver under the side trim. Any one else catch this one? I'll have to see if I can put my DVD in my computer and get a screen shot.

 

Friend of mine, Jean Lopane, lined up cars for that series from among the local collectors here in South Florida. They had their own cars for the main characters but they also needed filler vehicles to flesh out the scene. They would give her a list of cars they wanted a couple of weeks prior to shooting and she would find the cars. It was a pretty good gig if they used your car. You drove your car to Miami the day of the shoot and when they needed it in a scene, you placed it or drove it. Nobody else touched it. Long days but $400 in your pocket and three or four catered meals of the best Miami could offer. I liked the program as well and was sad to see it only last two seasons.

 

Hello,

We are like most locked in place rules followers. Not those that go outside to be with others or attend events. We like our isolation and the extras it provides during this pandemic. Streaming movies are now the weekend plans. Our streaming shows are usually derived from a flash of a preview we see from other shows. If it looks interesting, then we have a movie night on the weekends. Things we used to do back when it was safe to go out and walk around the local city/beaches.

Anything to make the idea of being locked in place memorable… recently, we got another updated Roku device. The old one was on the blitz and we did not want to get stuck in the middle of a movie or weekly show. Now, in the same light, this new roku device has a cool screen saver that is a huge fish aquarium.

So, if you leave a show in the middle or at the end, a few minutes later, the giant aquarium pops up and it is now like 1952 in the Westside of Long Beach, when we would just sit and look at those angel fish+ the many colorful fish enjoying their freedom swimming endlessly.

The Vast Of Night movie a “Twilight Zone” homage. It was like being in 1950, but watching it on a large TV screen, with nice color and clarity. We pretended it was B&W, but enjoyed it in blazing color.

What was neat worked out to be set in the 50s with those cool cars we used to drive and have fun growing up. We may have been like the characters, but it was a cool time to grow up and wonder what was coming for us next in the timeline of being a teenager. In the movie, it surprised us that one of the main characters drove a 4 door Hudson with a pair of working Appleton spotlights.

That hit close to home as our dad had one installed in the 53 Buick 4 door sedan. A huge car sitting in the local So Cal drive in at intermission and the battle of the spotlights on the giant blank screen was going on for the next ten minutes. My brother and I took turns fighting other spotlights and chasing those lights all over the giant drive in screen.

It may have been set in 1958 or after as there is a 58 Pontiac in the parking lot scene.

As we all know from other movies and tons of books, small towns anywhere use community support and gatherings in the high school gym. This movie was just set up as a 50s drama. The mention of …”it looks like a Twilight Zone episode…” did ring true.

Jnaki


The cars were very period correct and there was even a sedan delivery that popped up in the high school parking lot. It was a fun movie to watch, it was a little crazy at times, but wasn’t the Twilight Zone very similar in story lines and mystery?

The “moral of the story?” Watch it and see

 

And sometimes it's just little things. I was watching some gangster movie set in the 30's. And I noticed some Speedway mirrors on one car and some other modern add ons. Sometimes I start looking for stuff like that and wind up not knowing what the movie was all about, lol

 

Hey @jnaki I took notice of your Riverdale posts.
Bob Montana created Archie based on his time at Haverhill high school. There is a section of town called riverside in Haverhill too, likely where Riverdale came from.

 

Twilight Zone and Perry Mason for some original Detroit iron!