Hot and Not-So-Hot Rod Movies

January 31, 2006 12:32 AM

Who watches Sunset Boulevard for Norma Desmond's 1932 Isotta Fraschini Town Car Landolet Limousine? These folks [scroll down for the film list], who also like the "VERY KOOL maroon late-1940's Ford Coupe" used by the cop-killers in The Onion Field, Steve McQueen's "milquetoast baby-blue 1953 Plymouth Cranbrook convertible" in The Blob, Fred Astaire's end-of-the-world Ferrari and lots more.
posted by mediareport (7 comments total)

Found while searching for info about Altman's Brewster McCloud, which apparently has a pretty good chase scene.
posted by mediareport at 12:33 AM on January 31, 2006

See also: Internet Movie Cars Database.
posted by insomnus at 12:48 AM on January 31, 2006

Neatness. Thanks!
posted by brundlefly at 12:52 AM on January 31, 2006

Plots as summarized by a guy with a car fetish:

The film opens with a "down on his luck" Hollywood screenwriter, Joe Gillis (Holden), fleeing west down Sunset Boulevard away from finance-company men who are attempting to repossess his 1946 Plymouth convertible. To elude them, he turns-into an old broken-down mansion, and parks his Mayflower drop-top out of sight in the garage... when Joe Gillis pulls into Norma Desmond's garage, he discovers, parked "up on blocks", a partially covered 1932 Isotta Fraschini Town Car Landolet Limousine that is equipped with real leopard-skin uphoulstry, dual side-mount spare tires, and wicker side body covering. Apparently, according to the license plate, the car has been derelict and abandoned for 20-years, since some time around 1932. Wonder why? But, WOW, what a find! If you ever had the fantasy of discovering a "Duesenberg in a Barn", this is what it might be like, and this scene alone makes the film worth a look. Too kool.

I want one about shoes.
posted by pracowity at 3:28 AM on January 31, 2006

Don't let Norma know, it would break her heart.
posted by kingfisher, his musclebound cat at 4:08 AM on January 31, 2006

I love old cars, and if I were rich I would surely own three or four. But I watch Sunset Boulevard so I can learn where Paul Auster has gotten most of his plot ideas.
posted by Miko at 6:03 AM on January 31, 2006

I especially liked the "right-clicking not allowed" feature of the site.
posted by Dr-Baa at 7:19 AM on January 31, 2006