Motion Pictures The GIANT GILA MONSTER (1959)

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I was channel surfing last night and stumbled upon an old B&W Sci-Fi flick ... I just caught the very end of the movie ... a scene where a '32 Roadster crashes into the monster.

This morning, curiosity got the best of me and I watched the entire movie on hulu (click HERE to watch).

It's a very corny, cheesy, low-budget B-movie ... but there's quite a few Hot Rods and several other cool old cars:

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Great old flick. Saw it in first release. I think it was filmed in Fort Worth area.

 

Great period movie. Scary when I was 9. Dopey now but the cars are great.

 

Yeah...lots of cool old cars.

 

Had it on VHS for years...great pic for old cars...so bad it's good... except for that song he sings...

 

The only way to see that one is on MST3000.

 

I heard it was filmed around Paris.
Lot of cool rods though.

 

Completely cheesy, "B" movie, with lots of cool hot rods. What's not to like?

 

I see you were up as late as me. I was wondering if it was just a dream.

 

The companion pic is "The Giant Claw". Lots of early 50's airplanes. Worst movie ever!!

 

My wife made me sit here and watch it with her.Cool cars yeah,but I want my fuckin horur and ten minutes back!

 

D'oh! ... My apologies to the H.A.M.B. for starting yet another thread about this movie ... I just did a search using "Gila+Monster" as the search criteria and found 44 other threads that discuss the movie!

Here's some interesting info and pics culled from those threads:

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I saw it when I was a kid, first time I ever saw a hot rod.

 

Someone needs to do more MST3000's, with some of the old hot rod movies.

 

It was Filmed on the "Cielo Ranch" on Lake Lewisville, between Dallas and Denton.
Its now a Housing Development.

Got to wonder where all the Hot Rods came from.
Were they local?

 

Yes they were.

Funny thing, Gas Monkey ended up with one of the cars from the movie a couple of years ago.

 

Loved MST 3k. Started and done here in Minneapolis

 

i got it on dvd and love it, way bad movie but way cool cars and filmed in baja oklahoma

 

cool movie
witch car did Gas Monkey get?

 

The Mulkey-Duke '32 Roadster from Dallas was in that movie. John Mulkey won the street roadster class at the 1958 NHRA Nationals in Oklahoma City in this car.

Supposedly Mark Morton thought he had the car a few years back, but it turned out to be a different car.

Richard Rawlings/ Gas Monkey did in fact end up with the Mulkey-Duke car. He bought it out of Big Spring, TX along with a couple of other deuces. It was a full-blown early 80's street rod, Zenith wires and all, when Richard got it. But according to my research and a few reliable sources, it was indeed the same car from the movie.

Richard told me he sold the car to some guy in Thailand or some fuckin' place. I don't have a problem with Richard, but this is just another example of Dallas' hot rod history being flushed (sold) down the drain.

It's sad, really.

This is it here...pretty sure it had a 301 Chevy.

 

Brian beat me too it...

 

Brian @Bass -

Cool! ... It seems that every day I learn something new on the HAMB.

Here's a pic of the Mulkey B/SR that I posted in my The 1958 NHRA Nationals thread:

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Thanks for clearing up the rumor about it being Morty's Deuce Roadster.

It's a bummer that this piece of American Hot Rod history has ended up in Southeast Asia.

 

The local channel here is running episodes of "Highway Patrol" at 5 am weekday mornings. Broderick Crawford is driving a new 57 Plymouth. LOTS of neat old cars parked on the streets in the background!! 10-4

 

That was indeed the Mulkey/Duke roadster in that movie,,,I personally bought the car from John Mulkey about 1970..I sold the car to Arthur Jones,in Ft Worth,,It was then sold to Sonny Armstrong in Lancaster..I lost track after that..The 40 Ford cpe
in the movie belonged to Charlie Adams of Custom Automotive,
Dallas...We built the car there at Custom.was sold to Irwin Cerf
of Corsicana,,lost track after that..."Gas Monkey" also had my previous "Trowell-Turner" channelled full fender 32 That he sold
to Jim in New Jersey,,Jim is restoring it to the original T/T cas
Jim is currently here on the H A M B

 

@wbrw32 - Cool info! ... Thanks! (It's posts like yours that make me really appreciate the HAMB)

 

Thanks HEMI32....I enjoy rhe HAMB every day of my life since joining...glad to provide "Old" information...

 

Car is actually still here in DFW
I sold it to my friend Dennis and he just sold it a few months ago to a guy in Southlake area. The new owner is good friends of Don Smith and Don told him to buy the car and he did.

 

I'm glad to hear that the car is still in the Dallas area..
John Mulkey jr,is my neighbor here in E.Texas and still has parts from his dads roadster...He'll be happy to hear this news also

 

was this the same car raced in hotrod girl ? at the start of the movie.

 

One of the best quotes about the A coupe about 4 minutes into it.


" I paid $695 for that car 26 yeas ago.

Ten years ago it wasn't worth a dime.

Last week I turned down $100 for it,

when it gets back up to $695 I'm selling"

That's classic. He must of sold it long.... ago.