There was a long tenured disc jockey on WCAO-AM in Baltimore in the 60's and 70's named Johnny Dark.. Now I'm thinking he may have borrowed his on- air persona from this movie.
I saw the movie when it first came out. I thought it was pretty good, and the movie showed quite a few fiberglass cars that were popular in the 1950's. A guy down the street ( Green Street, San Francisco ) from where I lived in 1956-1958 had a Kurtis sports car. I remember that he was pissed that he had broken 3, 1953-1955 Corvette windshields before he was able to get one to work.
Canada to Mexico on all kinds of road conditions and all of the hubcaps stayed on! These old car flicks are fun.
In the first race... weird fiberglass cars prolly sitting on 1940 chassis's and powered by flatheads or straight 6s... and running with Jags and Ferraris... Pretty funny.
I had a chance to buy a Victress on a 40 Ford chassis, with a tri-power 324 Olds, sort of like the one in the movie. Saw the movie in the 50's, as well.
I saw that movie in the local theatre. Saturday matinee at the Capitol where I would sneak in past the concession stand and get in for free.
I think they are gorgeous, but don't think I could own something that had aspirations of looking like a Ferrari and drove like a '40 Ford. Sort of like I don't dig fake blowers on motors, etc... That being said, I think they did the Victress S1R or something along those lines? It was on a Kurtis chassis... I could get behind that.
There were probably a lot of them across the country. Marketing folks like to copy a successful gimmick. A friend of mine used to be a radio DJ here in Oklahoma City and went by the name "J Robert Dark". He still uses that name in some of his business dealings.
I have yet to watch this film, but immediately recognized the "red sports car" featured in the first picture recognizing the 1952 Willys Aero Taillights and the body line....It is a 1953 Wildfire (The #21 car featured at "its in the bag" and throughout the movie). A neat fiberglass kit car built by Willys Dealer (see attached data sheet). I took these pictures at two different area shows of a fellow who restored one. He's got a little hemi in it, and I can only assume it's super fun to drive. >>>>> Truth be told I was only drawn and then interested in this car after I built/restored my 1952 Aero Willys (last picture). Now I've got some watching to do....
Thanks for the tip! I once saw it on at a friends house back in the 60's. I only saw the middle and I remember thinking I'd like to watch the whole movie! This is the first time in 50 years I've seen it mentioned again! I'm going to watch it as soon as I can.
I recall a 1950s movie with Rock Hudson in it where the woman who was after him drove a red Woodhill Wildfire.
I have never heard of this one and am really not much on even watching movies. However, seems I will have to check this one out. Thanks for the review Ryan!
When I got out of the Army in 1961 there was a Victress sitting beside a plumbing business in Manchester, Connecticut. I always like the Victress, but I never tried to find the owner. Then one day it was gone. I am still sorry that I didn't inquire about it.
I have a family connection to this car... Part 1: https://www.jalopyjournal.com/?p=1248 Part 2: https://www.jalopyjournal.com/?p=1332
@Ryan, I was familiar with the name Joe Mabee and The Confederate Airforce, a long time before I ever heard of the HAMB. My uncle, Orman Perkins, who seemed to have a hand in anything that happened in the Pecos, Balmorhea, Fort Davis, Midland and Odessa, TX area, knew Mr. Mabee. For a while, Uncle Perk ran a beer route through all of those places in addition to being the Water Commissioner, Justice of the Peace, local grocery store owner and rancher in Balmorhea. While visiting Uncle Perk one summer, I worked on the beer route with him and I remember making deliveries to the Mabee's place. Never met the man but I remember the stories Uncle Perk told me about all the aircraft Mr. Mabee had in the hangars, some with flat tires with wings overlapping and laying on the bottom aircraft. Uncle Perk was stationed at Rattlesnake after WWII, married a girl from the Davis family, the same Davises the Davis Mountains were named after and knew everybody. It seems to be a much smaller world than one would imagine.
I have watched this movie several times over the years. I found it entertaining. I like old car- hot rod movies.
I grew up in Midland and spent my summers at Prude Ranch in Ft. Davis. That's literally my stomping grounds and where I learned to love and drive cars. The car history in Midland alone is nuts... VDS Racing, Chaparral Racing, Shelby, Hall, Foyt, Mabee, etc... The list of shit that went down on Rattlesnake Raceway is absolutely crazy... I could argue that it's the birthplace of the real American sports car and I'm dead serious about that... If there is no Guy Mabee, there is no Cobra... and if there is no Cobra, there is no GT40. Midland... and Guy Mabee... have never been given the credit they deserve.
If anyone is curious, you can see Rattlesnake Raceway here: https://www.google.nl/maps/place/31...b55705817a828!8m2!3d31.9123056!4d-102.0466389 I stopped by about four or five years ago. The old Chaparral offices were shuttered and the track surface had some weeds growing through, but given how long it's been since it was operational, it didn't look half bad at all. I think Jim Hall still owns the property.
A good 20 to 30% of my family photo album is me with my dad on that track... When I was 6, my dad bought me a shitty Walmart go-cart and I demanded a session on Rattlesnake. Years later, I was driving shifter carts on the same track in between John Andretti or John Paul Jr. testing sessions. And one of the defining moments of my life was when at 16 years old, Franz put me in actual race car and told me to go fast... right there on Rattlesnake. It's that moment where you learn about the ROI of hard work...
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