Are you getting as excited as I am about Barrett Jackson New Orleans 2023? This will be the first ever Barrett Jackson in New Orleans. The show starts next week on Thursday the 28th and runs through Saturday 30th. As always they'll have a live stream running of all the hot bidding action. If you happen to miss the show, don't worry it will be up on YouTube later in the coming weeks. I just finished going through the docket and we are in for a treat folks. Below are our movie and tv car related picks from the upcoming show.
Our first pick is a very nice example of a 1980 SE Trans Am. Very much like the one Burt Reynolds drove in Smokey and the Bandit Part II. Complete with a 301 turbocharged V8 under the hood. According to the listing, this car has under went a complete comprehensive restoration. The real question is does it come with a Frog? *wink*
Our next pick is a 1967 Shelby GT500 Eleanor Tribute car. Note this car is not an original screen used car. However it is a licensed replica. It features panels built by Cinema Movie Services. If you recall they're the original builders of the screen used cars. Under the hood a beafy Ford FE 429 V8 backed up by a 4-speed toploader transmission. With a 9 inch Ford rear-end sending all that power to the ground. There are several other Eleanor tributes or replicas going on the block this show. This one is our favorite.
Last but certainly not least is a 1967 Cobra Re-Creation. I'm curious to see how this one goes. Factory built Shelby's bring a ton of money. This is a recreation, but built with Shelby parts. It should do well. A lovely looking build. You may remember our article from years ago about the Shelby Cobra body and frame that came up for sale on the Sharks and Cobras episode of Pawn Stars.
Looking for something new for your morning or evening commute? Something with a little bit of gab'n about cars. Well this new podcast coming soon to iHeart Radio maybe just the ticket. I was looking around for some new content for the blog, when I came across "Car Stories with Sung Kang and Emelia Hartford." You may remember Sung Kang as Han in the Fast and The Furious movies. You know that guy that.. Oh sorry. Spoilers. But you know what I'm talking about. Emelia Hartford stared in the recent car movie Gran Turismo. Together they will be bringing us exciting interviews from major players in the star car community. Such as Hollywood vehicle coordinator Dennis McCarthy! Even musical artist and car collector John Oates! I'm excited to say the least. I just finished listening to the intro on the iHeart Radio site. Links below to where you can find this podcast on popular podcast apps.
This week on YouTube, the Car Wizard, works on a KITT replica! If you haven't seen Car Wizard, be sure to check out his channel. He features a little bit everything from high end to everyday autos. He and his wife run a full service garage based in Newton, KS called Omega Auto Clinic. I've enjoyed watching him for years. But why is KITT in the shop? Car Wizard mentions one of the headlights doesn't pop-up. Pretty common for these cars. The air conditioner compressor is leaking and one of the door handles isn't working. I think these are all great excuses for us to get to see a great replica up close. I'm really impressed with this build. The owner has done a wonderful job of recreating the ionic car with extras! A very clean Crossfire Injection base vehicle Trans Am to boot. We're thankful for the Car Wizard for sharing this with us.
Party time excellent, requires excellent tunes. Do you have the right part for your Wayne's World AMC Pacer? Looking to head-bang accurately with the best of Wayne's World fans. Well you're gonna wanta pay attention to the information we have for you today's Proper Prop. Proper Prop, the segment of On Screen Cars where we tell you how to get proper prop for your tv/movie car replica.
The object we're talking about today, is the cassette tape deck used in the Mirthmobile. Ah, the Mirthmobile. The famous ride belonging to Dana Carvey's character Garth. But where did Garth get his tape deck? Well through a lot of screen pausing and analysis we have an answer for you. But it's a little complex. There were actually two cassette tape decks used in the films.
Panasonic CQ-H08
The first film used a Panasonic CQ-H08 AM/FM Cassette Deck. These units were sold around the time of the film in 1990 - 1991. You can kinda spot the front of this radio in the scene where Wayne pops in the Queen tape. I had a hard time finding photos that matched. But if you pause at the right time, you make out the words Panasonic in the upper left corner of the device as well as the words "HI-Power". The bass and treble knobs are not readable in the film, but the location on the device is unique enough for a match.
Kenwood KRC160
The radio in the second film was a bit easier to find. It was a Kenwood KRC160. This radio is much more noticeable. It's almost as if Kenwood sponsored for product placement. I can't think of much reason why Garth would have upgraded so soon. The features of the previous units were the same. I would suspected a in dash CD player to replace the portable one on top of the dash. But not another cassette deck. I was able to find out a lot more about this radio. You can see the specs here.
Something to note about both of the radios used. Both of these radios are a single DIN standard design (180 x 50 mm panel). Where as the original Pacer radio had a two-post radio (volume and tuning knobs). The dashboard would have needed to be modified to allow for the larger radio face. This is something very common with vehicles prior to 1984. You can actually see the larger hole that was cut for the radio in the Pawn Star's episode where Rick Harrison buys the car. Sadly at that point the radio had been pulled from the car. Logically the radio should have been the later Kenwood model. I guess we'll never know for sure.
So where does this leave us with Proper Prop? Well the answer is simple, are you building a Wayne's World 1 or 2 AMC Pacer? I hope you enjoyed this deep dive. I know we sure enjoyed digging for this piece of obscure prop trivia. Till next time, Party On!
"Smile. You're on Candid Camera!" The famous catch line of the hit show Candid Camera. The series all about putting real people in funny situations for laughs and reactions. The original series ran from the late 1940s through the 1970s. I like to think of it as the original reality tv show. You can find many old shorts from the show on their YouTube channel. Recently after browsing through some of the videos, it dawned on me that there were number of car gags. I thought I would share one of the most famous ones from the show. Candid Camera did a gag called, The Split Car.
Imagine seeing a car just split in half while going down the road? I mean how do you react? Well you see how people did in the clip below. I did a little research on the car itself. It turns out it was built a New York resident craftsman, Ron Jerauld. The car was built from a 1957 Renault, model 4C. One side retained the regular engine and drivetrain. While the other side was fitted with it's own motorcycle engine and steering. Must have been a feat to build. According to Timothy Hall, Jerauld's cousin, the car was completed in short order over a few weeks. The two halves were latched together by hydraulic locks. The car would split into two at the touch of a button. Hall went on to say in the comments that the fate of the car is unknown. Such a cool story. Thanks to author Timothy Hall for sharing. Be sure to check out his website and literarily works. See the full clip below! Tell next time, keep your peepers open!
Panasonic CQ-H08
Kenwood KRC160
