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.
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!
Say it with me "ThunderCougarFalconBird." Now say it again 10 times fast. Addicting huh? Well I have to say it's a memorable piece of Futurama fiction. Apparently the future's version of manliness is a mash of classic car names and parts rolled up in a big fancy hover car. Episode S2E10 entitled "Put Your Head On My Shoulder" introduces us to the car. In the beginning of this episode Amy decides she needs to go car shopping. They go to see Malfunctioning Eddie and his Rocket Car Emporium. Where Fry is nearly swayed by the salesperson to buy the car.
Nothing makes you feel more like a man than a Thunder Cougar Falcon Bird
Nice pitch isn't it? The car reminds me much of Simpson's: The Homer in it's terms of oddness. It does pay great tribute to the old big fin cars of the 1950's. You can see the artist had the 50's Ford Thunderbird in mind. The grill is kinda a mix of a Ford Cougar and Ford Falcon. Hints the name ThunderCougarFalconBird. Check out that super-charged V8 poking up from the hood. Rarrr! I like the rest of Fry and Salesperson's conversation.
Fry: "Sorry, I'm not here to buy."
Sales Person: "I understand and it's wonderful that you don't care whether anyone questions your sexual orientation."
Fry: "I care! I care plenty! I just dunno how to make them stop!"
Sales Person: "One word: Thundercougarfalconbird."
I think this car would have an interesting emblem to it as well. Take a 80's Mercury Cougar emblem (I still think it reminds me of a ThunderCats logo). Throw some wings on the cougar, thunderbolts and there ya go an emblem for the ThunderCougarFalconbird! Last but not least check out this Flickr post on a LEGO version of the ThunderCougarFalconBird. Nice job LEGO Ambassador Matt De Lanoy! aka Pepa Quin on Flickr. Well that's all I have for now on the topic of the ThunderCougarFalconBird. Let's hear what you have to say! Post in the comments. See ya next time!
Yesterday Hasbro rolled up their display in New York City at the American International Toy Fair. A full scale movie vehicle of the famous Transformers Optimus Prime was parked out side The TimesCenter. The truck however cannot move on his own power and is not street legal. It took a team of two flat beds traveling across the country to bring Optimus to the big show. Hopefully he'll be on his best behavior after Bumble Bee's appearance during a Super Bowl Commercial. It's hard to keep your cool when you get a New York City welcome.
Well how did the city respond? They gave Optimus a ticket. Hasbro reported that all the proper permits were acquired to park Optimus on the street. However a $115 dollar ticket was applied. No word yet if Hasbro has plans to pay. But word quickly spread through out the web. Including a video or two popped up on Youtube. Check out one of the videos below for the full street appeal. Till next time avoid a boot or tow and pay your tickets!
Update: January 2021
Sorry folks the video and account associated are long gone.
Who said all On Screen Cars had to be nice? Sometimes you just need something that works. That's the goal behind the British hit show Scrapheap Challenge. The show were teams of contestants are given the challenge of designing and building devices to complete varies tasks. You may also remember the show as Junkyard Wars on the Discovery Channel. I plan to feature more cars from this series. Growing up I remember tuning in every week to see what the teams were about to design and build. Now for Spy Cars!
In this episode the teams were given the task of building spy cars. Their spy cars had to be able to navigate through a warehouse setup as a super secret spy base. The warehouse err spy base, had several obstacles that the cars and the team had to take into account. The vehicles were required to hold all four team members while being low enough for clearance of some of the obstacles. The kicker was the fact the vehicle also had to be able to clear a high hump in the middle of the course without high-centering.
The blue team used a lawn tractor as a power plant while towing a trailer for the rest of the team. Not a bad choice for the clearance issues. I think I would be concerned about the lack of power. The back seat on the trailer folded down backwards so the team lay down for clearance. Note the outriggers on the lawn tractor. This can help the driver take in account how wide the trailer is when making turns. This also serves as a place for the driver to duck to when laying low. They navigate the course slowly but without any major problems. Until the team got to the hump. They took a penalty by disconnecting the trailer and pushing it over the hump. The lack of power I talked about earlier cost them a few points.
The pink team on the other hand didn't have power issues. They used two full size front wheel drive cars cut in half. The two front haves of the car were jointed near the back of the drivers seat. They joined the two cars using a huge hinge point. With the aid of hydraulics this allowed them to pivot the car upwards for the hump. By using the front haves they were also able to gain four way steering. They flew through the first part of the course. The four-way steering really made it sweet for turning corners. The team did well until, guess what.. the hump. A major mechanical failure caused their drive shafts to twist and sheer in two. You could hear them cracking up the motor but it wasn't pulling them along. The end of the road for the pink team.
Panasonic CQ-H08
Kenwood KRC160
