Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Classic Cool

I turned a corner and found this groovy modern house with a mint condition Mustang parked in front. I no longer question it -- I just assume that I have some kind of cosmic art director setting up these shots. Here, I kept waiting for Steve McQueen to walk out and get in the car. (Or maybe Starsky and Hutch to pull up next to it.)

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well the car looks like it was just shined up ready to put in the show room. Nice shot.

Abraham Lincoln
Brookville Daily Photo

Sharon said...

Look how that Mustang sparkles. Someone takes good care of it.

San Diego Farmgirl said...

That looks like Mike Brady's house, right before Carol and the girls moved in and he had to sell his precious Mustang. Greg was hella pissed, because this was supposed to be the car he drove to high school. Instead, he bought his friend Eddie's old convertible, and we all know how that turned out.

Anonymous said...

WOW...looks like a '67 or so fastback. Someone's either repainted it, or kept it in REALLY good condition over the years! My father had that same color, but not fastback style. So, yup, it's possible you've transported back in time. That's obviously not CA original car, as it has the early white plates. Sure does look purrrrrty tho! I think I can still smell the interior and hear that engine purr!

Virginia said...

Cosmic art director, you crack me up! Great shot and I love the little star shines on it!
V

dbdubya said...

Trish is correct - this appears to be a '67-69 era Mustang Fastback with custom wheels. While the plates aren't original, the car could be a California original. California plates were yellow on black in the late '60's. They became yellow on blue in '70 and white was optional in about '80 and mandatory by the late 80's. The car has probably sold several times and at some point a new owner put new plates on the car. Cars in this fine a condition have often spent their entire life in California, Arizona or Nevada.

Steve McQueen's Mustang in "Bullit" was a '67. A friend in college had an identical one in the same dark green color. Personalized plates had just come out and his was "Bullit." It didn't impress the girls, but the guys all thought it was pretty cool. McQueen did not use a stunt driver in what has been rated the second best police chase in all of cinema, second only to the one in
"French Connection."

Yakpate said...

I also love the magic starbursts on the Mustang... and the way it points at the lacy shadow of the tree... ephemeral, yet just as commanding in this composition as the wheels.

Petrea Burchard said...

Where do people find time to shine their cars like that? When I get time to do that I want you to photograph my Altima.

dbdubya, was Bullit the one where they drove a car out of one of the Marina Towers in Chicago? Though they probably didn't have a driver in the car, that was one of the coolest stunts ever.

Wayne said...

Groovy??

Laurie seems to have been temporarily transported back to 1967.

dbdubya said...

Patrea - Bullitt was filmed in San Francisco. Steve McQueen played a cop named Frank Bullitt. About all I remember of the movie was a 10 minute car chase filmed throughout the hills of San Francisco. Lots of hang time with cars in the air and some spectacular Bay area scenery in the background. I can't remember the name of the movie you're talking about, but it was filmed many years later. Bullit came out in about 1968.

Susan C said...

Since the classic car is getting all the attention, thought I'd mention that I love the tall vertical windows and hyper-extended eaves of the house.

Judy Williams said...

Your car karma is uncanny!!! I love that slant back Mustang. WOW - what a find.

Petrea Burchard said...

Thanks, dbdubya, I do remember that chase.

dbdubya said...

You can find anything you want about Bullitt, or any other movie, buy going to the IMDB.com website and searching for the movie's title. The trivia section for Bullitt has several entries about the 9 minute 42 second chase which wasn't even in the original draft script.

Cafe Pasadena said...

P, thankfully you have your husband available to wash/polish your Altima. Hang on to it: one day LA will want to shoot it!

Mister Earl said...

Hi Gang,

Sorry I haven't been around much lately. DBW, I remember when I was a little kid in the 50s, the CA license plates were black on yellow, then they went to yellow on black, and then the yellow on blue. I believe in the early 50s they may have sent you a new plate every year and then they went to the corner tags, which were metal and screwed on before they went to the stickers.

What was the name of the cop movie shot in SF where there were some bad cops who were killing people? Was it one of the Dirty Harry films or something else?

dbdubya said...

That's right, Mr. Earl. When I was young plates were black on yellow. You got new plates every year with the year of the plate in the corner. My '61 Chevy Impala was black on yellow. In the early/mid 60's they reversed the colors and sequence. The yellow plates had 3 letters followed by 3 numbers. The black plates had 3 numbers followed by 3 letters. That remained the same with the blue plates. It wasn't until about the mid-80's when they went to the 7 digit plates. The annual stickers started sometine in the 60's.

I'm sure that's way too much license plate information for everyone but you and me.

The San Francisco movie you're asking about was one of the later Dirty Harry movies. I think it was Sudden Impact or The Enforcer. Dirty Harry is one of the iconic characters in all of American cinema. "I can't remember, did I shoot five times or did I shoot six times. You have to ask yourself a question. Do you feel lucky today? Do you, punk?"

Jane Hards Photography said...

They are all around these little set pieces but I do believe when you are armed with a camera they are only visable to us photographers/

Laurie Allee said...

Hey everybody,

Farmgirl, your comment cracked me up!

Mister Earl! I've missed you! Glad to see you here. I knew a super cool muscle car could coax you back...

Now, I must see Bullitt again. It's been years. And this car -- and house -- really reminded me of it.

Thank you for all the kind words, everyone. Until tomorrow...

Anonymous said...

Definately a 67 or later. The 66 was had fewer, bigger louvres and was a much smaller car.

Unknown said...

Hard not to fall in love with that Mustang!