Dear CC Cohort, You have not been forgotten, just neglected. It’s high summer, and I’m trying to do too many things, and writing up Cohort Classics has slipped a rung or two. But the new postings keep coming in, and it’s a cornucopia of every imaginable type, vintage, country, and condition. You’all, do check it out.
This one by TheProfessor47 did stand out a bit: a pristine ’68 ’69 Belvedere copmobile, caught on the streets of Washington D.C. Shooting a movie, or is someone just indulging their tv-inspired fantasy? What’s interesting is the script on the side:
“to protect and serve” That would be the LAPD. No police department has done that better. The tires are beefier than the originals, so I’m guessing it is someone’s toy. Why not?
Isn’t that a ’69 with the rectangular side markers (which I believe were reflectors only that one year)? The ’68 Mopars all had small circular illuminated side markers.
As an aside, I just saw the movie, “Moonrise Kingdom.” Great flick, but one anachronism — the story is supposed to take place in September 1965, but the one car shown (and frequently at that) is a 1968 Plymouth Belvedere or Satellite wagon that serves as the town police car! You’d think for big-budget movies like this that SOMEONE would have the smarts to get a car of the proper model year, say a ’63 or ’64!
Quite right…will change.
Indeed, good catch. One could split hairs and say there’s no “New Penzance Island” (nice plate), no such group as “Khaki Scouts” and certainly no “US Department of Inclement Weather”. Wes Anderson is *so* thorough in every little detail. Maybe he thought the ’68 just looked the part.
I’d grant Wes Anderson artistic license to use a fictional island, and it doesn’t surprise me that the arch-conservative Boy Scouts wouldn’t allow the use of their name in a movie that has a couple of borderline risque scenes. Just as well “US Department of Inclement Weather” was used as “NOAA” would have been another anachronism!
Googling for Moonrise Kingdom also turned up another auto-anachronism, the VW Beetle crushed under a steeple has an exterior gas door, ’68 or later.
We loved this movie too, it’s as good as his best (The Royal Tenenbaums in our book). Wes Anderson is not for everyone, but if you were a nerdy kid in the ’60s like me, or anytime, you’ll enjoy Moonrise Kingdom.
It’s definitely a ’68 on both counts. I also found the use of two ’68 cars an interesting anachronism, too…to me, it seems no coincidence that they used them..bugged the heck out of me as to why though. Everything else is so perfectly detailed for ’65. I’m thinking it might be a kind of ‘wabi-sabi” thing- like everything else is so right on that they did this just to make it un-perfect. I spent an hour after seeing the film Googling to see if anyone else noticed this in the film geek world… This is the first thing I’ve seen. Score one for Team Car Geeks….
I have not seen the movie, but I always annoy friends of mine when I point out car errors like this in “period piece” movies, the one that always drives me crazy is in 1990’s Goodfellas, where they start the scene with the tag “Idlewild Airport 1963” and the first 2 planes you see are 747’s, which would not exist for another 6 years, and Henry Hill is leaning against a 1965 Chevrolet Impala.
How about the end of The Shawshank Redemption where Andy Duphraine heads down to Mexico in his convertible 1969 GTO in 1967.
Actually, looking closely at that pic, it’s an early Super Beetle (look at the telltale grille under the front clip) dressed up with pre-67 bumpers-which don’t match-the front is chrome and the back looks painted. What a weird thing.
I remembered the Beetle after I made my original post. There was only a quick cut shown in the movie, so it didn’t dawn on me that it might have been an anachronism also.
The vent behind the rear side window glass did not exist until ’71 so it is at least that new.
Wes Anderson’s “worlds” tend to be just a little bit off–especially in this film and “The Royal Tenenbaums”. I would be surprised if there weren’t at least a few anachronisms sprinkled here and there, perhaps deliberately.
(BTW, did anyone else think the Edward Norton role in this movie was obviously the usual “Owen Wilson part” for an Anderson film?)
It’s not the only one with automobile anachronisms. The 1980 movie Alterate State set in 1967 featured car cameos of a VW Rabbit and a Plymouth Volare in some exterior scenes.
Also, the 1990 movie Avakenings with Robin Williams and Robert DeNiro who was set in 1969 featured a cameo of a 1972 Impala Custom http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_469239-Chevrolet-Impala-Custom-1972.html
1 Adam 12, 1 Adam 12, see the man……..
415 in progress…with chains and knives…
Yes. Love old police cars…nice example. I’d take this over any Road Runner.
Belvedere was once a top line trim level, and got demoted to fleet duty, as many other trim names in Mopar family. Gran Fury, Royal Monaco, Coronet, Satellite, and Savoy[?]. Current fleet queens once known as sport models are Avenger and 300.
that’s “415 fight group, with chains and knives…”
I’ve been watching a lot of Adam-12 on Netflix lately. One of the cool things about the show is all the cars that you see being driven in ’60s Los Angeles.
Yeah that’s the big reason I watch it. There is one episode that I really love as one of the scenes takes place in an alley behind an IH dealer so there are several brand new, rust free Scouts Pickups and Travelalls to be seen.
I have been watching it too – one of my cable channels has 2 back to back episodes of Adam-12 followed by two back to back episodes of Dragnet. I can often catch some of one or both during dinner.
I believe I saw them blow up a Hillman Minx on an Adam 12 episode recently. I could only identify it because of my CC involvement. But just to watch the random traffic through the window of the squad car is great. I am sort of dreading getting to the Matador epsodes, though. The thrill will be gone.
Dragnet is great for old “new car” spotting too. Of course I’d rather have Joe and Bill’s Fairlane over either of Adam 12’s rides.
I watched The Graduate again a couple of weeks ago at a friends house, and there are tons “new” old cars to spot in that movie, and its a good movie overall to boot.
I’ve been watching Dragnet 1967 through 1970 lately on Netflix. Lots of fun car-watching there, too. It’s funny how they would re-use the same exterior shot over and over and over… I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve seen a ’64 Rambler turn left, right before the 1-k-80 blue Ford drives past.
I never noticed that Joe Fridays Fairlaine has a wood rimmed steering wheel in some of the close up shots, someone pointed that out to me once.
The Deluxe Steering Wheel option, very rare outside of GT models.
Also, even though the show was on the air for 4 seasons, it looked like the same 1967 Fairlane for all 4 years. Certainly someone of Friday’s seniority would have merited a new Fairlane after a couple of years. That 67 (I noticed the wood-rimmed wheel too, also the fact that it is an up-level trim instead of a chrome-less strippo) was surpassed only by Steve McGarrett’s 68 Mercury for how long a TV cop had to go without a new car.
Yep, McGarrett went from 1968 to 1974 with the same Mercury and then again from 1974 to 1980, the series end with the same car too, even though Dano, Chin-Ho and the other Five-O staff got new Fords every year.
I loved Adam-12 as a kid, but now, I can’t help but imagine Martin Milner: “My last show (Route 66) I got to drive a Corvette all over America. Now I’m schlepping a Belvedere (and later, God help him, a Matador) around the same 5 blocks of North Hollywood.”
Of course, his next show (Swiss Family Robinson) had no cars at all.
I thought that the “81489” might be a zip code, but all I could come up with was a “zona postal” for some area in Sinaloa, Mexico. I don’t think LA had a lock on “to protect and serve” (contemporary Chicago cop cars state “We serve and protect”). As I recall, Chicago cop cars had the same slogan on their cars in the ’60, but as a long-haired hippie (their words, not mine) cab driver I stayed away from cops as a measure of prudence.
Kevin: It’s an LAPD replica. That’s the City of Los Angeles shield and the number 81489 is where the LAPD put the unit numbers on their cruisers back in the day. Malloy and Reed’s was 80817.
Apparently the car lives in D.C. (it’s running D.C. historical plates). Someone ran across it in a parking garage two years ago and posted a couple of pix to Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/samer/4847590951/
Did the LAPD actually use Belvederes in this era, not some full-size model?
My understanding was that the LAPD indeed used Belvederes, and that this was the reason for the choice of car on the show. When the LAPD switched to Matadors, I think I recall reading somewhere that AMC supplied two Matadors to the show.
http://www.1adam12-1adam12.com/Owners_cars.html
There’s a whole industry apparently in creating replica Adam-12 cars.
LAPD issues the door numbers sequentially on their cruisers. Still in the same position, under the city shield.
The most recent photo I can find (on a current-generation LAPD Dodge Charger) shows the door number in the 88000 range. I imagine the numbers used on cars in Dragnet, Adam-12 and other TV shows and movies the LAPD cooperates with come from a pool of numbers never used on actual vehicles.
Surprising that they’re allowed to run around in police garb unmolested.
Yeah, I know, everyone knows there’s no department using a 1969 squad car…but the places I’ve lived, red lights, ANY red or blue lights on the roof, are verboten.
Heavy fine and impoundment.
Sometimes even the innocent are ensnared. In New York State, blue lights are the property of Volunteer Firemen. Exclusively. A blue strobe or gumball has much the same meaning as an amber one, with the added caveat that this is a fireman hurrying off to do what it is firemen get called for. Motorists are expected to yield but not to stop and certainly not to produce license and registration.
Okay…a friend from the Southern Tier came to visit me in my new digs in Ohio…he had a blue gumball on his truck. By the time he’d been there a day, he also had a bag over it, and a warning from the Ohio state troopers. They were not amused; but he was telling the truth.
Had he been a chief, and authorized to have a red gumball…they’d probably have taken him out there with Cool Hand Luke…
Around here it’s a green light for the firemen. Blue lights are only legal for police cars, I’m not sure about amber but red is fair game for anyone as long as you aren’t using it inappropriately.
I was about the post the same thing, down here in FLA its a big no-no to drive around any thing with police colors and gumballs, there are a couple of police car replicas that come to car shows down here, a 66 Plymouth done up in City of Miami police trim, complete with “shut up hippy” riot shield in the back seat and a 12 gauge on the dash, the other is a LAPD Plodge Grand Diplomat, and both owners make sure the lights are covered and a big magnetic “NOT IN SERVICE” decal is applied over the doors before they move anywhere after the show is over.
Lots of Plymouth Belvedere/Satellite was “tortured” in cars chase movie scenes like that one in McQ with John Wayne. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2IQfxg2rN4
And others movies like “Cotton comes to Harlem” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X752h8iQiJM
Is this the model from the Blues Brothers? That movie must have set a record for wrecking the most police cars…
The car on the Blues Brothers was a 1974 full sized Dodge (Monaco? I think Polara was discontinued after 1973.)
The Blues Brothers destroyed more c-bodies than any demo derby could have hoped to. Still, I forgive them, great pic.
Hey, that’s half a block from my office! Sorry I missed this classic rolling by. It’s a beauty.
That is one nice piece of photography there!
That thing has been breathed on, those are 3″ pipes running out back and what look like 275/60s on the rear.
I’m guessing it’s a “pursuit” car..
Just saw this car at the annual Rockville MD car show this weekend – still going strong…running with VA plates