I was just watching Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis's final film together, Hollywood or Bust, and in the back projection footage shot in Chicago I spotted this: OK, any guesses to what this is? To me it looks like a sectioned early '50s Packard converted to a three-window business coupe with a Continental kit. Anyone recognize it? Rikster? Moriarty?
Hello, In looking up some old files, the 1954 Packard Convertible looks like the copy or the original, as you see fit. The arch of the front grille and bumper guards fit the odd, out of focus screen capture. Since the movie came out in 1956, the 1954 packard convertible fits into the year available. Jnaki As far as custom cars styling, the unfocused photo and screen capture is difficult to get a clear image, unless you have it in digital form or have a reel to reel film editor like we used to use with our film editing phase of our drag racing 16mm color films. Note: I used to do the same thing with the 16mm movie editor. I put the old metal reel into the left side, threaded the holes so they matched. Then slowly as surely, cranked the right hand to make the movie progress. The faster I cranked, the faster the image moved. But, if I wanted details, I used the crank to go frame by frame. Forward and backwards to check out the frame by frame details, missed the first time. The film cutter and adjustment tool is the split, silver plate in front of and below the screen. The film is put on the track with the holes aligning. Then the other side of the silver plate is brought down to cut the film in place. A liquid glue is placed on the roughed up tiny edge and the waiting for the other similarity prepared edge. Once the glued sides are on top of each other, the silver drop down door is lowered to seal the deal. For as minimal the glue is to the surface, it still holds up through heavy loop usage. But, if you have the digital edition of the old movie, you can show it frame by frame to get a clear or at least in more of a focused shot. In between the capture of your shot, lies a better in focus photo still. All in a progression of the action. So, go frame by frame to see your results. You can always use your digital camera or if you must, a phone camera and take a short film clip of the car portion. Then as it is place on your laptop or home computer, it can be viewed frame by frame. YRMV
My eyes just don't seem to be working good this morning, the pictures look blurred. I'll try again this afternoon after I've had a few.
Ha! Getting there soon, I hope. Jnaki: Like I said, Packard probably, but look at the height of the front wheel wells relative to the headlights - sure looks sectioned, and other cars that appear in the shot aren't distorted/squashed looking, so... I pulled a screencap from a 720p image on YouTube; I could buy the film on Amazon and get a bit sharper image but not by much. At least there's a lot of eye candy on the road in glorious Technicolor!
I went on youtube and found the movie, that car shows up in the background at something like the 48 or 49 minute mark, but it is so blurry that it could really be almost anything
OK, now I'm kicking myself. The ONE Packard show car I missed searching for was the Pan American (six built, four known survivors), and among the comments on this Hemmings article about it was a 1960 ad in the Chicago Tribune. Bet it's the same car: https://www.hemmings.com/stories/20...kard-concept-sports-car-which-way-did-they-go (from Capri280 on Reddit) (from K5ING on Imgur)
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