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I know it's sacrilege to question Milner's coupe but...

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by 41woodie, Mar 17, 2010.

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  1. 41woodie
    Joined: Mar 3, 2004
    Posts: 1,141

    41woodie
    Member

    something has always bugged me about the Milner 32. The sectioned radiator shell with the stay rods running down hill toward the grill just looks odd. I don't remember ever seeing another car with this done to it. It certainly makes the car identifiable but it just looks odd to me. Anyone ever see another car with this done to it?
     

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  2. Wikster
    Joined: Jun 19, 2008
    Posts: 107

    Wikster
    Member
    from Phoenix

    There was another thread covering multiple cars with a sectioned radiator. I'm not really down with it, but I love it on the milner coupe. I would never put mini fenders on a couple like that either, but somehow it all works together to make it so iconic.
     
  3. thunderbirdesq
    Joined: Feb 15, 2006
    Posts: 7,092

    thunderbirdesq
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    Nothing sacreligous about it at all, it's ugly as hell!;) Iconic car for sure, but I just don't care for the proportions of it.
     
  4. 40 & 61 Fords
    Joined: May 17, 2006
    Posts: 1,999

    40 & 61 Fords
    Member

    I have heard that it was patterned after a chopped and CHANNELED coupe that George Lucas remembered from his childhood. It came to them chopped, but they just didn't have time to channel it, so they just did the grill shell.
    Not sure if it's a true story, just one I've heard.....
     

  5. Yeah, but the mini fenders spoke to the era and laws in effect at that time. It goes with the story. I'm sure it wasn't for the looks because guys weren't doing that (for the most part) until they had to.
     
  6. 29nash
    Joined: Nov 6, 2008
    Posts: 4,544

    29nash
    BANNED
    from colorado

    Just an example of the old saw; Looks ain't everything. Low radiator cuts down on frontal drag, that's obvious, kind of reminisciant of 50s track cars. If I heard I forgot, what's it's claim to fame? If it's 'iconic' it must remind someone of someting?

    edit; Sacrilege to question it? It was a movie prop for cri'ssakes. It served their purpose, but for me to imagine if I had a hundred of those coupes original and unmolested and was planning to build them all a into hot rods, each unique from the rest, none would look anything like that.............
     
    Last edited: Mar 19, 2010
  7. fab32
    Joined: May 14, 2002
    Posts: 13,985

    fab32
    Member Emeritus

    I've always questioned this car. If it weren't for it being in AG it would go nowhere on its own. I also have never understood the fasination with cloning it. I'll bet none of the owners/builders of the clones were around in 1962 to see what was going on. I graduated in 1962 and when I first saw the movie and the car my reaction was .............HUH!!! Loved the movie as most of it was a recap of what I experienced from that era...............just not the '32.

    Frank
     
  8. Maybe you don't understand the meaning of the word;
    Iconic means relating to an icon,
    A cultural icon can be an image, a symbol, a logo, picture, name, face, person, or building or other image that is readily recognized, and generally represents an object or concept with great cultural significance to a wide cultural group (in this case Hot Rodders)
     
  9. hotrod40coupe
    Joined: Apr 8, 2007
    Posts: 2,561

    hotrod40coupe
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    It was just something that some folks did. Back then, as mentioned earlier, if you ran without fenders you were constantly hassled by the cops. You have to remember, Hot Rods were to the general public much like the rice burners with their fart cans are to us today.
     
  10. ironfly28
    Joined: Dec 22, 2003
    Posts: 1,028

    ironfly28
    Member
    from Orange, CA

    Like billet wheels, the rat rod and boyd coddington?


     
  11. Uh, what do you mean by that? Comparing Rat Rods to what is arguably the most recognizable Hot Rod in history?







    (Notice I didn't say best or greatest looking, just most recognizable)
     
  12. Do a search, we have discussed it many times. Word is that the car was to be channelled (to match the grill) but time/money ran out. Also, find the thread of the Norcal car that many of us think is the true inspiration for Milners coupe.

    Yes, the low grill is ugly, even tho I was 5 when I first saw the movie the car struck me, as it should damnit!
     
  13. hotrod40coupe
    Joined: Apr 8, 2007
    Posts: 2,561

    hotrod40coupe
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    On a side note, the coupe was originally put up for sale after the filming of AG for $1500 and there were no takers.
     
  14. BISHOP
    Joined: Jul 16, 2006
    Posts: 2,571

    BISHOP
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    word.
     
  15. always thought about that, first i heard it was to be channeled
     
  16. ironfly28
    Joined: Dec 22, 2003
    Posts: 1,028

    ironfly28
    Member
    from Orange, CA

    and you're right...That is definitely arguable. I wasn't comparing at all.........I was playing with the semantics of "iconic" who's chest is more Iconic? Jane Russell, Dolly Parton. Madonna or Janet Jackson....depends on who you ask. the Milner coupe was a car in a movie I think the 55 is more memorable. but in my opinion the most memorable car is Zuto's 36.

    "What happened to your flathead?"

    "What?"

    "Your flathead!"

    ""Your Mutha!"



     
  17. DR
    Joined: May 27, 2008
    Posts: 28

    DR
    Member

    I graduated in 62 in Tulare just south of the Modesto and don't remember anyone chopping a radiator that much lower that the hood line. Perhaps it had something to do with desired filming angles. The car did have ramp supports welded to the frame during the shoot.
     
  18. HotRod33
    Joined: Oct 5, 2008
    Posts: 2,570

    HotRod33
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  19. jcmarz
    Joined: Jan 10, 2010
    Posts: 4,631

    jcmarz
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    from Chino, Ca

    What difference does how the coupe looks, just because a few people never saw a chopped grill doesn't mean it was never done prior to the early 70's . We are suppose to use our imagination and build something unique and different instead of building cookie cutter cars. The 32 AG coupe is cool and looked bad ass racing that wicked 55. And how many of us have had our cars immortalize in a movie.?
    In the movie you are seeing the transition from Hot Rods of the 40s and 50s to street machines of the 60s and 70s. The 32 AG coupe brought people back to those old Hot Rods.
     

  20. I wish I could say that was the car that struck me... instead im stuck with the damn Ghostbusters Ecto! ;)


    I dont think it is that bad. I kinda like it. Its seems realistic like... Fuck, we were gunna channel the car but we forgot and toad needed a ride that day and... you get my point. nothing was ever done back then. ever changing like chameleons.
     
  21. Where's one of those pics of the guy doing a facepalm "ahh jeeze, not this shit again" .... ?
     
  22. Marcia
    Joined: Feb 27, 2009
    Posts: 937

    Marcia
    Member

    Needless to say, my husband really liked AG. When we started building this in 1980, we had to run fenders. we didn't have a duece but we had a dodge so we went with it. Everyone called it the Grafitti coupe.
     

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  23. I have to agree with HR33 It is what it is. I liked it then I like it now. Would I change it ? Probably but it is Milners coupe and it will always be Milners coupe
     
  24. Wait a minute- That little grille allowed us to see that bitchin Man- A- Fre in all those frontal camera shots.
    Great lookin' rod- so un- p.c.
     
  25. Mr Haney
    Joined: Jul 17, 2008
    Posts: 1,000

    Mr Haney
    Member

    back when i was a kid watching that car on paradise road....i didn't give a fuck about proportions and all this banter. the car was wicked then as it is wicked now !
     
  26. theHIGHLANDER
    Joined: Jun 3, 2005
    Posts: 10,230

    theHIGHLANDER
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Milner? Who's that? Oh yeah, I remember, the movie guy with the hot rod.

    I'm glad the guys in this post got right to women too like Mansfield and Russell, oh yeah, gotta have it. I always liked Carol Lombard...

    The car doesn't need to be 'right' does it? I liked the old Merc that the Pharohs were drivin. Another representative of the times but a bit behind as well. As was said above street machines were coming along and factory racers were getting big attention.
     
  27. 5window
    Joined: Jan 29, 2005
    Posts: 9,508

    5window
    Member

    I've got to agree, although I was 24 when the movie came out. I wasn't really even aware of the aesthetics,it just was a cool movie. I still like the car-you've got to take in the times and the story.

    That being said, I have never understood why someone would invest the time and money in cloning a tribute car. Maybe incorporate some ideas-we all do that,but why don't the cloners want to make a car of their own? If they can clone, they certainly have the skills to make it an individual. I can see re-creating a car that no longer exits,certainly restoring a car to it's original glory but I can't see making one more Milner's coupe.
     
  28. The Millner coupe reminded me instantly of the only other coupe I remembered seeing with a chopped '32 grill shell and that was back in the mid sixtys,,and it was on a 33/34 coupe.

    I thought it was cool and really didn't know what it was at the time,,HRP
     
  29. I liked the movie a lot, so it was easier to over look any flaws in the cars. I appreciate the movie, as it was made. Of course there are flaws in the Milner coupe, the Pharouh's Merc, etc., but the movie wasn't just about the cars, it was about the times and the decisions the kids of the era were faced with. We can look at any Hot Rod, or Custom and critic the shit out of it. It all amounts to someones vision, and attempt to re-create it. How many times have you looked at a Hot Rod and said "damn that looks good, but I would have.." The movies who have "cars as stars" in them, rarely "get it right" as far as the cars are concerned. I appreciate the fact, that we all have different ideas/opinions..sure would be be boring if we didn't.
     
  30. 5window
    Joined: Jan 29, 2005
    Posts: 9,508

    5window
    Member

    I think there are just some cars that immediately hit you as cool, or really not cool (Pontiac Aztec). Maybe, with time and analysis you start to pick up their flaws,but that first impression is just so strong that it stays with you a long time.
     
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