Photo by J. C. from the Cohort.
I spent a little over a decade in California after moving there in the fall of 1990 to attend college. And through those years, I only met one person who owned a 1980s Crown Victoria; in Los Angeles of all places. A blue two-tone in good condition, not much different from this find posted at the Cohort.
And nope, this post’s title has nothing to do with that Crown Victoria having a multitude of gremlins. Instead, the Acme reference is related to the car’s owner, a creator of the fabled Acme Works of Wiley E. Coyote’s fame.
Yes, in this story, Acme Works is kind of a real place, as it was the work of one Maurice Noble. The name probably won’t be familiar to many, but most of you should know his work. After all, he’s the man behind the colorful landscapes where the Road Runner’s adventures took place in the Warner Bros. world. And while the Road Runner is an invention by cartoon director Chuck Jones, that frisky bird needed some cool landscapes to roam. And thus, Mr. Noble’s craft came into play.
Above, you can see his skilled hand at work in some images from the 1963 Road Runner cartoon “To Beep Or Not To Beep.”
I had met Maurice not long after college when my old pal from Wyoming introduced me to the old-timer. At the time, the two of them were working on some ideas for a cartoon series that never took off. But regardless of that letdown, there was a gain. During that short stint, the two became inseparable pals.
They were clearly kindred souls. Partly because they shared a love for art and storytelling, but there was more at play. My pal may have been young, but he had the heart of an old soul, with great fondness for an old-style life. Meanwhile, Maurice had an old body, but a yearning to enjoy life and experience the world as if he were still young. You could sense, when he spoke to young folk, his spirits rose, and a pep in his voice and demeanor appeared.
The two also firmly believed in politeness and courtesy, something that seemed kinda alien in the ‘coolness-obsessed’ LA of the ’90s. So these two old-yet-youthful souls (or youthful-yet-old souls?) spent much time together, stockpiling anecdotes to fill a book.
Less relevant but still pertinent, the two also shared a love for Fords. Not the greatest link in their friendship, but one that did help cement further bonds. As I’ve mentioned before, my pal came from a family with a long-running Ford tradition and so did Maurice’s. It was a topic that came up a few times in conversation, and believe me, it wasn’t hard to get them to talk Ford.
By that time, I knew Maurice was ‘legally blind’, so it didn’t surprise me to learn that his Crown Victoria sat mostly unused in his garage. But failing eyesight or not, his opinion on aesthetics was still strong; even with cars.
- I just can’t stand those jellybean cars… I look at those new cars, and they just aren’t for me!
Not that the Crown Victoria never got any use, as my Wyoming pal occasionally chauffeured the old man around. Something he didn’t mind doing, as it was far more reliable than the Bronco II he owned at the time.
Of course, Crown Victorias were not exactly a common thing in 1990s Southern California. At least not in the hands of regular folk. This led to some unusual situations, as my pal told me when I asked him about the car:
- So, how do you like the car? What’s it like?
- It’s great! I love it! But you know? It’s funny to drive around with it… when people see you coming, they think it’s a cop car! They slow down and look around, you know… Then they see me well, and go back to normal. It’s pretty funny.
Maurice passed away not long after the turn of the century, and I won’t deny that I miss the conversations we had. I felt he belonged to a generation that had worked hard to make a better life for the likes of me, and each story was a revelation. His days of ruthless overtime hours as a store department illustrator as a young twenty-something were eye-opening. Meanwhile, his fight to get Hollywood cartoonists to unionize was deeply inspiring. Those acts got him blacklisted at Disney, with his name removed from Snow White and Bambi’s credits (His name has been restored in recent prints), but he had no regrets about his actions. And well, he spent WWII working with Frank Capra, helping in the war effort.
Finally, there are those Road Runner cartoons he worked on too. I’ve spent my whole life laughing wholeheartedly to those, and my life has been all the better for it.
So, for all the good times, Mr. Noble, this Cohort’s Crown Victoria is for you. I know you’ll enjoy it.
Related CC reading:
Curbside Classic: 1985 Ford LTD Crown Victoria – Hellooooooooo Kitty!
CC Design Shoot-Out: 1977 Chevrolet B-Body vs. 1979 Ford LTD – The Boxing Match
A David Bowie music video is perhaps one of the last places you’d expect to see a prominent product placement for the Crown Vic. But the full-sized Ford made a memorable appearance in Bowie’s 1997 video for I’m Afraid of Americans. Great song.
https://youtu.be/LT3cERVRoQo?t=181
I drove those things for years (as a cop), they couldn’t take corners without fishtailing 3 times, but were comfortable…
My father’s Buick Park Avenue finally keeled over and his brother, who also worked at Ford gave my father his brown Crown Victoria LTD. My uncle was a part-time minister and he used the car to attend funerals, taking the grieving family to the cemeteries for services. The car was dark chocolate brown with a simple velour bench seats. I called it the Hershey bar.
My dad loved that car because it was a gift and the fact that it was just a simple full sized Ford instead of a plush Park Avenue suprised me. But he loved that car while I looked upon it as a brown dinosaur.
Now, I’m the one with a Crown Victoria, and just like my father before me, I really like that car. Yeah – it’s pretty generic, but now that everyone seems to be tooling around in SUVs and trucks, it stands out in a very good way.
Thank you for writing about Maurice Noble (and his car…but really, Maurice 🙂 ).
I have long admired his work and feel that he’s behind some of the best Warner Brothers cartoons ever. What’s Opera Doc (which I’m sure I’ve linked to in various articles and comments) is a national treasure and is arguably one of the best Warner Brothers shorts ever made.
Mr. Noble’s work has also been my go-to Zoom background throughout these past several years of endless Zooms. Nothing breaks the ice like a Wiley E. Coyote landscape.
Hello Jeff!
I can tell you that Maurice was particularly proud of the work he did in “What’s Opera Doc?” and he was really touched when the short was selected to be part of the National Film Registry in 1992.
I remember lots of these in civilian garb back in the 90’s .
Thanx for telling us about that nice man .
I too believe in manners and common courtesy, I get surprised looks when I say “thank you” , or hold doors for women or offer to get something off a high shelf when I see an Elder gazing up at it wistfully .
Sadly too man scared people these days think acting the fool makes you look tough, it doesn’t .
Last Tuesday I got into it in a movie theater when the old woman and her hubby to my left began bothering me about my cell phone, it was turned off and I politely said so, then the hubby stood in front of me and gave me some shit, I nearly decked him .
In the end after being bothered and my view blocked _four_ times I gave up and left it turned out it was the old woman’s cell in HER PURSE that was bothering her .
I didn’t even get a free ticket, I’m about to go watch the movie again .
-Nate
I fell in love with the same year Grand Marquis. Deep cherry red with thick matching velour interior. Comfortable as comfortable gets. These cars and cars of that vintage (70s though the 90s). are pretty much meant to self destruct right around the 100k mile mark.
Well, it developed a bad valve tap around 90k, more problems came up than I could bare, and VOILA! 96K. Miles! It knocked it last knock on the shoulder of I95
It was a terrible car actually. As far as dependability is concerned. Take a look see around. How many did you count on the road today?
You got it backwards. They were an awesome car with terrible owners, who didn’t bother to maintain them.
I used to own a 1982 Grand Marquis. Other than the grille and tail lights, it was basically the same car.
The 2 barrel variable venturi carburetor on that thing was the worst part Ford ever built. People who know say they ran great when new, but mine was 20 years old when I got it and barely ran. No one knew how to work on the carburetor, and the advice I got repeatedly was to just replace it with a Holley 2 barrel. Had I kept it, I probably would have. But I ended up replacing it with a 1993 Grand Marquis with a fuel injection 4.6L motor which ran much, much better.
I just drove a final year 2011 Crown Victoria across the county. 2000 miles in comfort and bliss. Even the worst roads were soaked up by the Crown Vic. Never worried about passing. I loaded the thing down and it rode even better than usual!
I averaged 25 MPG. Never had back pain. Hardly ever had to get the tach over 4000 RPMs. It was perfect.
I really am disgusted that cars like this aren’t allowed to exist simply because of spite and hate for our grandfather’s.
“I wouldn’t be caught dead driving my father’s car” was something I heard out of people who are now in their 60’s constantly as a kid in the 1990’s and 2000’s.
Really is pathetic that a great platform would die for that reason. They were rugged cars.
I actually saw someone wipe out in Dallas, Texas in a Grand Marquis. When he hit the wall the front end didn’t explode into a shower of plastic and junk. The driver survived and was in good enough shape to get himself out of the car.
There were a few more reasons than “I wouldn’t be caught driving dead driving my father’s car” lol. I love these cars too, but their time was long gone by the mid-00’s. Maybe even earlier. There’s no market for a car that has the handling, ride quality, and fuel economy of a full-size SUV but only has a quarter of the space. I had a beater 2000 Town Car, which I loved. It was like owning my own personal pontoon for the road. I dumped it for a 2010 Accord when it started to fall apart on me. The Accord has, without exaggeration, nearly the same amount of space on the inside. It does this while being faster, getting 20+ more mpg, and taking significantly less effort to drive. Does it have even remotely the same amount of personality as the Townie? Of course not, but it’s a much better car. Oh yeah, and it’s muuuuuch safer. I was always terrified to get t-boned in the Lincoln. Side-impacts on these cars are not pretty. Ask Jack Baruth.
The Ford Crown Victoria and Mercury Grand Marquis were all beautiful automobiles ! Sales for these were very strong . I recall looking at new 1984 models at our local Ford dealer and of course admiring how nice they looked with their squared off design . They proved popular for families , as well as long trips ! The 1992 models were redesigned with a aerodynamic or rounded appearance . I never thought those were as nice a design as the ’91 & earlier models . The 1995 s were again redesigned and proved popular in law enforcement and taxi cabs , There you have it , Just my thoughts . Happy Motoring !