America has long had a love affair with the automobile. Cars are the ultimate expression of form, function, fashion — and speed.
But most of all the car represents freedom.
Try and remember when you were a teenager yearning for your driver’s license so you could hop into daddy’s car and go, go, go. It didn’t matter where, you just wanted to burn rubber and escape into the far horizon.
The exhilarating and touching American Graffiti (’73) is the ultimate expression of American car culture. Every scene takes place in a car, or beside a car.
Los Angeles was the first America city built to accommodate the automobile. And the movie stars of Hollywood’s Golden Age, most born dirt-poor, expressed delight in their sudden prosperity and fame by purchasing and posing with their dream machines.
Steve McQueen driving an XKSS down the Sunset Strip … doesn’t get any cooler than that 🙂
Love these automotive stories … and the comments!
The line that stood out the most for me was “the car represents freedom.” Several months ago, I had to convince my almost 92 year old dad to give up his wheels. My dad adores driving, loves his car – and yes, cherished his freedom. Life would have been vastly easier for me, in so many respects, if Dad could have kept his wheels. Yet, my fears that he might harm – or kill someone – continually kept me at my task.
I wish I had not had to curtail Dad’s freedom. But, precious as that is, I knew that it was necessary. Thank you, Dad, for your enormous sacrifice.
Peg:
Sadly, I had the same experience with my father several years ago. He loved to drive and prided himself on being able to get into the tightest parking spots. But his age took a toll, and for his sake, and the safety of others, we had to tell him that the freedom of the road was no longer his.
That reminds me of my grandmother who, many years ago in her 60s, decided her driving was untrustworthy and just stopped. I was proud of her.
Mcqueens’ Mustang in Bullit looked just like mine, but I believe mine would blown his doors off.
sennacherib – I assume you have one of the retro Mustangs – the Bullit edition? If so technology has done amazing things compared with 45 years ago – supercar performance for econo-car mileage – not to mention advances in suspension and tires…
I had it then not now, sorry about the confusion. Yeah as good that car was it wouldn’t stand a chance now. It did turn a 13.96 1/4 with closed exhausts and bias ply slicks.
Those 1920s and 30s cars are so gorgeous. I had a girl friend in college who drove a 1957 tan T Bird. She told me her father drove a pickup truck with every conceivable accessory, including A/C in 1957. Reverse snob, I guess. My all time favorite car is <a href=”http://www.artvalue.com/auctionresult–bentley-vehicles-1926-bentley-6-1-2-litre-simpl-2088616.htm”> a 1926 Bentley roadster</a>. A guy pulled in behind me in a gas station in La Jolla last year in one. I walked back to talk to him about. He said it wasn’t original because he had put another Bentley engine in it but it was gorgeous.
The one at the link sold for 1.5 million. That’s Bugatti territory. A friend of mine invested his entire pension plan in Bugattis in the 1970s. I think he did very well.
Michael – that you like early Bentleys is a testimony to your good taste! Of course they must be in British Racing Green . Have you read about the “Bentley Boys”?
Bill:
You sure know your cars!
I have to admit, I love that Cord and would happily drive it if I could. It was so far ahead of its time. For instance, notice there are no door handles. The doors opened electronically using push-buttons located on the exterior and the instrument panel.
Robert – if you want to have my idea of the most elegant 30s car – certainly a Duesie but look at this Delahaye 135
http://carsdata.net/Other/Delahaye-135.html
The Cord was ahead of its time – front wheel drive, retractable headlights…
On Steve McQueen he was known for cruising Sunset Blvd in his XK-SS or Porsche 911 and having an informal race or 2 along Mullolland Dr –
A fellow I cam across on the Net recalled cruising in his 60s muscle car, an Olds 442, and racing a guy in a 911 at night. At the stoplight he saw it was McQueen who just looked at him and grinned.
If you want to see a McQueen movie involving cars – look at LeMans – he was furious that his neighbor, James Garner, got the part he wanted in Grand Prix and decided, 5 years later, to make his own movie on racing.
Today, LeMans and Grand Prix are considered 2 of the greatest racing movies.
And McQueen did all of his driving in the movie – driving the fast but very dangerous Porsche 917.
You can virtually drive the Cord, Robert, it’s available in the game ‘LA Noire’.
Earl:
Good to know. Thanks.
Unless Richard Dix bought a British version of that Pierce Arrow, the photo is flipped horizontally. I tried and it does look right when you flip it back. Unfortunately, no lettering in the shot to confirm the flip.
That shot of Astaire & Rogers with her Deusie looks like a still from one of their movies. I wouldn’t be surprised if she rented it to the studio for the shot.
Great photos, Robert. As usual, you find marvelous shots.
Larry:
You might very well be right about the Dix photo. I’ll look around and see what I can find. Meanwhile, the photo of Ginger and Fred and her Dues is from their wonderful film “The Gay Divorcee,1934.” Let’s hope she was paid a rental fee by the studio, because that car was a great prop.
I thought the Astaire/Rogers shot looked familiar. Thanks for the identification. Great film. I have the set of all their movies on DVD and introduced them to Bill Brandt.
Great pictures, Robert. On the Phantom Cord, it is amazing how some designs look timeless and some just seem comical today. perhaps in fairness to the Cord, shall we say in 1938 that is what the designers thought was the “cats meow”.
By contrast, look at almost any Duesenberg from the 30s. Sure they look dated, but still elegant.
Looking at Ginger’s Duesie while she and Fred saved RKO perhaps RKO helped them, too 😉
The T-Bird of Frank’s – I wrote a little piece in my car club newsletter I’ll show:
I think that TBird and the LA car culture were made for each other. The 56 looked virtually identical to the 55 – with the exception you’ll see side vents to allow air to come in and cool people a bit.
Jax XKSS – wow – is that a rare car. Jaguar had the fabulous D-Type, winner at Lemans – and on that success they wanted to make a civilian version of that, which was a race-only car. It had a windshield and probably an engine that was detuned. They made about 20 and the factory burned.
Take a look at this, for the 1956 LeMans, Mike Hawthorne taking you on a tour in his D-Type. Hawthorne could have been one of the racing greats but for the fact he was killed in a stupid race along a British street in the rain.
BTW, the accident he references at the end was from 1955, a terrible accident that killed 70+ people in the grand stands – caused Mercedes-Benz to quit racing for 40 years or so…Hawthorne was a part of that accident in, I believe, an Austin-Healey.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sk2irKVQB4I
Hawthorne won that year in a D-Type. He was involved in the accident because his car was one of the few with disc brakes and other drivers weren’t used to it stopping so quickly. Details here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1955_Le_Mans_disaster
‘Grand Prix’ is the best movie about motor racing and couldn’t have been made much later. It was filmed with near-complete co-operation from drivers and teams, which wasn’t to happen a few years later when sponsorship and telecast rights became so important. James Garner is said to have impressed the GP drivers with his skills. Recently he claimed in an interview that he would’ve won a race between Steve McQueen, Paul Newman and himself.
Earl – a book by Garner I would recommend is “The Garner Files” – at one time Garner had his own team and raced regularly in the Baja 1000.
And Bob Bonderant said that he could have turned pro – he was that good.
One other thing – a little story about Juan Fangio gives you a glimpse why many consider him to be the best racer….ever.
When that accident occurred – when the mighty 300SLR driven by Pierra Levhigh (sp) went into the stands – teammate Fangio was just rounding the corner for the straight run past the stands.
At 180 mph or so he saw all the faces of the audience turned in another direction – not towards him – and knew something had happened – and slowed down – averting yet another accident.