Ya ... I think someone in the research department was...not doing any research... I realize that Tommy based his car on Norm's car when he originally built it but I don't ever recall it being called "Kookie pick-up" Sent from my QTASUN1 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Yeah someone wasn't doing their job that day. It is likely "Kookie pick-up" was used as a generic description of T buckets hey it looks like Kookie's T must be a "Kookie pick-up"
Something I found in the back of a September 1993 Rod&Custom Sent from my QTASUN1 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Just think. This one hotrod swayed a lot of young teenage boys into the wonderful world of hotrods and their moms and dads could do nothing about it...…………………….
I was watching an episode of Peter Gunn from '59 last Saturday. You only need to watch the first 5 minutes, to catch Norm at his finest !
Great save, Marty! I'd only seen the dirt-slinging brodies by Norm in that one before. There was another, which starred the 'T' (in its 'Kookie Kar' paint with top up) Story: A high school football star with homicidal tendencies drives the Kookie T at night, with a white bearskin rug wrapped around the Deuce shell...when the killer is On the Hunt! Norm is doing the driving, and the REASON for the T getting a top was, (according to Norm) An actor driving the T (when it was still BLACK, but had the four 97s) was cautioned by Norm to "Take off in second. Torque in low gear will turn the car, and when correcting it, you'll be going way over..." The actor told Norm he was driving fast cars when Norm was a gleam in his father's eye. I suspect it was Charles Coburn, but Norm wouldn't say. Now, here's what he DID say: "Actor took off in low gear, tires were spinning, car went left, then right...Right into a lamp pole in the parking lot. Bent the tube axle and the frame, way over to the right..." Studio had the T towed to Valley Custom, Neil Emory worked on it 'til late one night... the frame was bent and wrinkled, so Neil told Norm they could make some frame covers from 20 ga. Norm said "O.K., but they want it to finish this movie..." Watch Mr. Cagle and the Baby Sitter. For the shots much needed (Coburn driving the T with his new girl friend) if you look carefully when he is pulling up, watch for a tow cable. There's a pull cable from the front axle, you can see it on the ground. Norm said "No more actors driving the car, I'll do the driving." He had a top made, so he couldn't be seen. A long conversation and some 'driving lessons' for Edd Burns ensued, so 'Kookie' could get some wheel time. Gospel. Producer/Director Howie Horowitz had some feed toward the car's role in 77 Sunset Strip: he talked with the execs, who accepted the car, but said "Add some color", because "There's gonna be lots of coverage on this, and black cars don't look sharp on posters and billboards."
GASP!!! Amazing news! (just re-read the whole thing last night, was surprised and amazed at the news.) This just MAY go full circle. There was a rumor that Jim Street saved every part removed from the car, so it could be restored to its original form. Just a thought: Roy couldn't possibly be going the 'previous route', could he? Roy knew Jim Street... Just kidding.
If you watch the Sisters of the Friendless Peter Gunn episode, Norm does a cameo in the Rockabilly's roadhouse scene. 3.07
@Atwater Mike - I've been chronicling Roy's team's progress on the restoration in the "Driving the Kookie Kar back to 1958" TJJ Blog / H.A.M.B. thread ... starting on page 2.
Just got "free" access to three seasons of Peter Gunn on Hulu (or is it Amazon Prime) courtesy of our younger daughter. So I was working my way thru Season one, studying every scene for vintage Mopars and other much l frequent makes, and trying to decide which parts of the high intensity fight scenes Craig Stevens may have done his own stunts, and looking wistfully at the Lola Albright's missing premolars. I know there have been threads that mentioned this, but when Season 1, episode 14, Sisters of the friendless (Original Air Date - 22 December 1958) started I was still mesmerized hard by the opening shots of a Hot Rod clearly being driven danged aggressively, and the stroker capped driver and passenger.
You’ll find the clone sitting in the foyer of Sacramento Vintage Ford. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
From the pictures that I have seen during the restoration at Brizio's, the original chassis work was rude and crude, a real teen-ager's work at the time. Thanks to Brizio's for letting the chassis be as it was. When I was a teen-ager in the 1950's, living in San Francisco, I went to The Oakland Roadster Show with my mentor, a member of The San Francisco Ramblers car club. Grabowski's T, and Ivo's T were side by side at the show. Also at the show was John Peter's Ala-Kart, and many more memorable cars. What a treat for me.
The Jalopy Journal
