Yeah, have to agree..Even watching other movies of that time period, like the Dirty harry series seems pretty bad to later stuff...I actually like Jake's car way better [the one in the cover shoot]...
No but I'm oretty nerdy about the car. To be honest im eating a rib meat sandwich looking at it right now in person
Better angle? Sorry I came off grumpy earlier, it's just a very well documented car and there's some pretty silly statment's being made~ they've all been corrected in the thread as well. Prolly should have had this sandwich earlier
Tim, That is awesome!!.......I have always liked Pete's Car, One thing I think is funny and alot of people here probably do not know about the car is The famous Chop it has that Pete gets credited for was Already done to the car when he bought it. Either way I always liked the car, But My personal Fav is "Jakes" Coupe. Jim Jacobs is one of my all time hot rod heros and a hell of a talented builder. Basicly 90% of the Aftermarket hot rod parts being made today are copys of his Designs from the 70's The yellow coupe has some real interesting suspension under it. the rear bones are 35-36 (Not uncommon), But Jake attached them together with a front wishbone center, then milled the ball down and extended it And it goes through a big rubber bushing mounted with a nut. I have never seen that Done anywhere On another car. Since Jerry won't sell me the car I have no choice but to build a clone, I wonder if it will fit in a 3D printer...LOL
Yeah I have a hard time picking between the two but I tend to land on jakes car just slightly more than the kid. I have a few friends who do the ol' unsplit rear bones trick but I never new Jakes car was done that way, look at that I did learn something! I'll have to crawl underneath next time I'm looking at it
They're both iconic cars, Both heavily influenced by cars that came before them. In talking to both Pete & Jake at different times, it came up both wanted something different that what was going on with "Resto-Rod"movement. Hence the cars that appeared on R&C or were driven to the Mid-State Nationals in Santa Barbara or in Jakes case Tulsa in 73. Not a whole lot of people were building cars with Kelsey's save for the "Hard Core Hot Rodders" powering their cars with flat powered V8's or bangers. In one the R&C's it tells how Jake found 4 3W's in about a month (one of them was later sold to Mike Harper so concrete could be laid at the house in TC to expand the garage). He also found a couple of 5W coupes. Imagine finding all of that tin today=what choices in build directions you can go mixing whatever styles the previous builders of the "found tin" had in them. Hence the narrowed 37 truck grill and the original white tuck & roll seat or the 57 Buick Nailhead in Jakes 34. (Someone mentioned fiberglass, Is glass a dirty word)? Someone should have told Roth, Harley Earl, Frank Hershey, Dutch Darrin, and so many others that worked in that cutting edge medium @ the time=(50's) Jake hand laid (formed) the fiberglass hood top and blister panels that are so iconic. He truly learned while he itched building the Druid Princess at Roth's. The glass industry took flight and allowed so many people including myself to partake in this great hobby, mind you I was encouraged by the likes of Jake, P-Wood,Birdman & PC3. Pete's Coupe as you can tell was an authentic "Bonneville Bomber", just another Hot Rod refugee that simply required a new owner. Little did the world know that with experience working @ both M&S Welding & Blairs Speed Shop and having access to a pretty cool louver press to rectify a wavy tail panel and vent that hood top/sides that this build would basically be a partner in shaping the "retro-nostalgia future" of Hot Rodding as it was known in 1973. Gene Scott's Antique Automotive comes into play here as well as PSI was making many suspension components and selling Mor-Drop & their own "Bell Super" axle (made by Vic Leon-Jim Ewing who ended up with the latter axle concern in Monrovia on Genoa St. as Super Bell Axle Co. with the 1st order coming from Pete & Jakes Hot Rod Repair). Much of what we had originally experienced throughout the pages of R&C and later Hot Rod could be attributed to Gray Baskerville who put these guys together one night in Temple City and they both made and continue to make history. I dig the fact that all of this was "In the neighborhood" and was crushed when I road tested past 8827 Las Tunas the signage was gone and there was no-more Pete & Jakes in T.C. I'd continued to see Jakes coupe at "Goody's Coffee Shop" on my road tests as a tech at the local Buick Dealer, so that part was easier to take, but knowing that the "Kid" ended up going with business was a bummer as I wouldn't see it any longer. The next month PC3 is at P-Wood's building another iconic (Glass) roadster that again is a "Gray exposed" creation and I actually got to visit this build many times. Jake trades out the body from his mail truck to Tony Piner for a Tub Body and in a month it's a pretty cool "beater" that again sets a trend of what exists to this day. Congrats to these guys for exposing us all in the present what existed in the past through many of their Hot Rod influences before them. To me "It's All Bitchen!"
Bad acting ? Have you seen 2 Lane Blacktop ?!?! I can't even make it through that movie . LOL !! ( Talk like that will probably get me banned from the HAMB )
Thanks cyclone that's some great info! I'm glad to see a thread that started so poorly take a turn and produce some great info that is never seen in the dozens of threads on these cars. I don't really care if a car is glass or metal, most people just stick some sort of romantic nostalgia on a surviving steel car where a new body has no chance at that bit of day dreaming of what was. I think that's mostly it with most people, not a dig against the material as a whole. To me hand laid parts and entire cars, one off ones at that, don't fall under the same heading as something rolling off a factory line. Who knows, Henry's cars came off one and every one loves them haha. I'll leave that all alone because there are way to many pissing match threads about glass for us to turn this into another one. Thanks for the good info to those supplying it
One of our club members is having Kelsey Martin turn his 34 into a California Kid " look-a-like ". It has been Cal's dream car since he first saw the movie and last year bought a this un-chopped, 34 3 W coupe to finally have one.
That's awesome! If he needs any info on the finer details im sure you could just call the shop and if you need photos of anything is be happy to help. I've thought about building a clone quote a few times
Has anyone built a clone and succeeded? When I was in high school I almost bought a Model A project that I wanted to make into "The Pennsylvania Kid" based on the California Kid..... Hell I still can't afford a 33-34!
Yeah there are a few running around but most have something that's not quite right that throws it off
One additional really small correction: Cris Carrier's first name has no "h" in it. It keeps getting typed as "Chris," which is incorrect. Cris
Thanks everyone I still swear it had a SBC with tri power and cal custom finned period valve covers maybe it was out of Paul Lemat's yellow coupe? based on the time frame of the movie SBF motors weren't even around yet not until may of 1962 and that was only a 221 2 barrel
The movie was made in the mid 70's and I don't think they really paid a whole lot of attention for "period correct" for a TV movie. Where are you pulling the 1962 date from?
Who cares about Bad acting? I remember long before VCR's and being able to rewind or watching what you wanted too. Hell I used to have to wait a year for these movies to come on TV and sit through the whole damn thing So I could see the quick shots of the cars. Not to mention "bounty the quicker picker upper". And don't get me started on "wheres the beef?" commericals!!.....LOL I never gave a rats ass about the elvis or frankie and annete Movies accept they Had Some really Cool hot rods in them. LOL
It was a movie, there is a two hop chasm between most car movies and reality. As for acting if they ever gave Hollywood an enema it would have been during the '70s.
BAD acting? when has Warren Oates EVER been any good in any part? he must have done a thousand westerns and sucked in every one of them what moron producer decided he'd be a good car guy? give us a freaking break!
Marc is an interesting character and what many don't know he is also a great upholstery guy. He did a lot of work for Boyd when he was working out of his house, and I'll never forget when he did Cher's Ferrari. She wanted the color changed and they decided that instead of changing all the upholstery he would Dye it. well, something went wrong and the dye didn't take correctly and ruined a dress she was wearing and he had to re do the whole mess. He did a n interior for me in about 1979 and it was as good as anything being done in those days! He ended up with my Honda Ascot motorcycle that he was going to build some crazy thing out of, not sure if he ever finished it. Last saw him a couple of years ago at his shop - Still has the Studebaker pickup
Gee, I always like him, and thought he was great in TLB. But I'm no acting guru, plenty of popular actors I can't stomach. Leonard Maltin thought he was good: Although the Peckinpah film roles are his best-known, his most critically acclaimed role is GTO in Monte Hellman's 1971 cult classic Two-Lane Blacktop. The film, although a failure at the box-office, is studied in film schools as a treasure of the 1970s, in large part due to Oates' heartbreaking portrayal of GTO. Famed film criticLeonard Maltin remarked that Oates' performance in this film was as good as any he'd seen and should have won the Oscar. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Oates
movie legend has it that they specifically hired Warren Oates for the film so he could coach James Taylor ...
I thought he was a pretty damn good John Dillinger... Still would like to hear from anyone who knows more about the '57 Plymouth they used; wonder if they chose it for the movie because it would handle better than a Chevy or Ford of that period, or if it was just a "meaner" looking car. (Makes me wonder if Stephen King saw this movie?)
The Jalopy Journal
