Folks Of Interest Absent Minded Professor - Model T -

The real T they drove around in is alive and well and lives in Grass Valley, Ca.

 

hmm
i know its historical but ya gotta hot rod it somehow ....
maybe some other wheels and tires ... filled with helium of coarse ..

 

my guess about the era and the building of a papier mache T is that the production company was watching out for the safety of the actors and crew... i wouldn't want to have signed off on hauling an actual T several yards skyward and having a chain come loose! it IS amazing that a paper model survived 50 years of display in as good a condition as that. i am certifiably absolutely jealous now.

 

This made me smile. Thank you!

 

I can't wait to show this to my dad! This so cool you guys saved and are going to hang it in your house.

 

Is that the one that was light metalic green on the Vintage Ford cover back in the 1960's? Got to dig that issue out.

 

WOW! That is so cool!

 

Good for you for saving that tidbit of history-don't think I would want Fred or the car hanging in my house-to each his own

 

Any updates?

 

Not just yet. Still planning out the supports we have to add in the ceiling, so the house won't cave in!

So hopefully soon...

 

Movie prop labor cost in the old days actually didn't matter much...they had every sort of craftsman on salary anyway, whether they were building cool stuff or not.
I remember a circa early '60's R&C article on movie cars that showed some late 1950's Ford Police cars that were wrecked in a movie scene...they removed the front sheetmetal, hand made aluminum replacements, wrecked the cars, then replaced the original tin and washed off the police paint to sell them!!
I think even in 1960 the cost of making fenders would have been radically higher than new steel ones, but in this setting it didn't matter.

 

Any updates?

 

Maybe the Flubber (?) got hard? BTTT

 

Where here is an update finally!

We wont have time to hang the car before the end of the year, but we ended up getting some more done on the car.
- We rebuilt the front pulley motor to turn the front wheels.
- Updated the headlamps from 12v to 120v
- Made the soundtrack, the flubber sound, and the witty lines Fred says to his dog Charlie.

The next step is to build the facade of the house that the car will fly in front of. But one step at a time.

Here is a little teaser video of what we got done so far. Enjoy!

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/sAZplxuGN_c" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

that is the coolest thing I have ever seen on the HAMB.

what will people be buying like that in the future?

"hey look what I got at the Pixar rummage sale, this is the computer keyboard the guy used to make Tow-Mater, I even got the mouse"

 

Wow, thanks for showing this, its made my day. Awesome.

 

x2!

 

well my little lady doesnt say a word about all the cars in the yard parts in the closets and me spending a small fortune but she would have me commited if i but a paper car in the house.and a really big paper car i might add!but i like it!!!!!

 

I want one.now you need the shaggy dogs roadster.

 

You WIN !!!

 

Made my sunday... Thanks ......

 

Thanks everyone! I'll need to put up a new video because the dog is animatronic but the motor keeps freezing on us.

Later today I'll post some detail shots of the banjo rear end they made for it.

 

Here is the banjo rear end

 

That was in North By Northwest; looks like the idea was to avoid damaging that expensive Mercedes it rear-ended:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2a-j3MJflNI

D_Lazaris, check out National Geographic magazines from that era - there's an article on L.A. that shows the miniature car they used for the movie being set up for a shot.

 

thats one of the coolest pieces of movie memorabilia ive ever seen lol , made my day great job

 

We got the dog working again. The little motor seized up on it. Got the secondary lights lit and the ahooga horn bolted on, the horn is not original to the piece but from the pictures we have of the car in the early 60's it indeed had one but most of got taken off during the years. So we put a new one on.

Here is a new video for your enjoyment!

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/1DQ9z7LdlJ0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Next on the list our the rear wheels turning and the rear brake light that needs rewiring.

 

Got the rear light working!

 

Wow!!!

 

I'm impressed!!

My wife?....not impressed. I always wanted to put a 1930's sprint car or midget race car in our living room and after seeing yours...she said "I could go for the race car, not a Model T."

 

Speechless.