StarCar phenomonon, dubbed “Carsplay” goes global!

One last blog for 2015, an end of the year wrap up!  Nate Truman’s StarCarCentral.com was started around the turn of this centurty, and has been growing in leaps and bounds every year.  From a single 66 Adam West Style batmobile, the idea of building, sharing and driving iconic movie and TV vehicles has grown to include StarCarCentral members around the globe.

In the early years of the hobby, people would fall in love with a famous ride, and the lucky few would buy a piece of movie history from the studios.  A few Herbie the Love Bugs, a handful of General Lee’s from Dukes of Hazzard and a Barris replica batmobile were in private hands.  Occasionally a short lived star car museum would open up for a while, then close down a year or two later.  The cars would be put in storage, or scattered around.  George Barris was kean on keeping track of all the famous cars, both the ones he had a hand in building, and anything else that had been on the screen and caught the public’s eye.   A couple of big auctions at his Barris’ Kustoms city and at the Peterson, gathered together for a brief time star cars from all walks of media and entertainment in the 1970’s and 1990’s.

If you didn’t get to the museum in Hollywood, or go to these simi-secret auctions that only movie car guys knew about, you would never have a chance to see more than one famous car together.

A few years down the road, fans started gathering for reunions.  The biggest of these was “Dukesfest” that happened for several years, and rows of repainted Challengers gathered together.  Some other famous cars would show up as well for a group photo.  Then interest waned and the shows stopped.  Now a new “Fanfest” has been reborn.

Knight Rider fans also banded together and with the help of this new thing “The Internet” started finding other owners of Knight Rider KITT cars.  Rob Louisell, Mark’s Customs, Jay Ohrburg, sold fiberglass parts and the fans constantly improved the interior electronics and helped each other find rare parts to get their dream ride on the road.  A few gatherings of Knight Riders happened as well.  

With the advent of the world Wide Web, every individual star car fan found a home to swap stories and ideas with other owners and fans.  There is a Herbie page,  lots of Knight Rider pages, 1966batmobile.com, basically there is a fan page for every famous movie and TV car that you can think of!

Even though Nate Truman had been tracking and finding screen used movie and TV cars since the 70’s, it wasn’t until 2003 at Crusin for a Cure that Nate finally decided to make his idea a reality.  “Let’s put them all in a pile, and play with them!” So over the last 12 years Nate has collected, connected, and introduced all the star car fans to each other!  It wasn’t easy, as many owners thought that their special car was cool, but didn’t want to park or do events with lots of “vehicular Unicorns”.    But Nate knew that seeing one amazing rare car out in “the wild” was amazing – seeing a HERD of them was mind blowing!  So out of that little new idea, and lots of detective work, Nate Truman’s StarCarCentral.com has become the hub where all the starcars can play together for good.  Hundreds of charity events, police, fire, Autism, Make-A-Wish, Pediatric Cancer Survivors, etc. have been able to include a display of famous movie and TV cars never seen before in public. The first “Carsplay” panel at Long Beach Comic Con happened this year and Nate and his team outlined the history of the hobby, and where it’s headed.

So as a cap to 2015, Nate organized his lineup to set a new record.  The most famous movie and TV cars in a single parade.  Over 40 cars appeared in the 2015 Hollywood Christmas parade!  It was a driving, rolling star car museum – brought together for just a few hours, and then disappeared into the night!  A big thanks to all the fans, owners, restorers, historians, and bloggers who have helped the star car hobby grow, and make new friends around the world!   Here’s the Star Car Central video of all the cars on the red carpet in the 2015 Hollywood Christmas Parade!  We have another 20 cars that could have been included, but we were just TOO big!  2015 Nate Truman’s Star Car Central.com Hollywood Christmas parade

So come join the fun in 2016, bigger and better!  Email Nate@starcarcentral.com or info@starcarcentral.com if you have a famous on screen ride!  With chapters across the United States and around the world, get your toy out and drive it!

 

June 25th (Wednesday) 2014 – “El Cajon Classic Cruise” STARZ CARZ NIGHT!

If you are in the San Diego area and want to see some movie and TV star cars, then tomorrow is your chance at the “Cajon Classic Cruise” STARZ CARZ NIGHT!

http://downtownelcajon.com/Events/CajonClassicCruise.aspx

Downtown El Cajon
FREE – Trophies! Food! Fun! Nearly 200 cars! This has become an annual event organized by Charger Steve, who runs the Star Car Central.com chapter since 2005. Hope some of you “LA FOLK” will make the trip! Everybody that comes enjoys it!! Scheduled to appear are:
Steve – in his Scooby Doo Mystery Machine!
Diane – in her Roscoe police car from the Dukes of Hazzard!
Mark – will bring his Gran Torino from Starsky and Hutch!
Victor – with his version of the Black Beauty, from the Green Hornet!
Tyler – WAS going to bring his Bandit, but it was TOTALED while he was in it just this last week!
Tyler is on the road to recovery, but the Bandit is no more. Look for Tyler in the future with a new replacement Trans Am!
Obishawn – will be bringing not one but 2 Star Wars cars to the event!
Ari – is bringing his ever popular Jurassic Park Jeep!
Lee – Will be rolling in his pristine General Lee Charger!
Jennifer – is also attending in her Super Persuit Mode KITT!
Special Guest star? Rumour has it that NATE TRUMAN may actually appear south of Los Angeles in his Shaguar, but Adam West is doing an Autograph signing in Temecula at the same time… stay tuned, the best is yet to come!

A look back at the Hollywood Christmas Parade, soon a bigger line up in Burbank April 6th!

Ok, This is from a blog I found about the 2012 Hollywood Christmas parade, but he got our whole line up and had nice things to say about all of the members who came and participated!   On April 6th we will have more than this epic line up, with a few new members and surprises as well! Come out to the Burbank parade and meet the Star Car Central team!

Wait, what!? The 1960s Batmobile from the Adam West “Batman” show and the 1989 Batmobile riding together??
Awesome. The 1989 one even unleashed a bunch of firecrackers underneath it. Where does he get those wonderful toys?

Another shot of the two Batmobiles.

I’ll take one of each.

Yeah, baby.

Remember when cars looked cool?

Okay, apparently the Christmas parade just turned into a pop culture cars parade, and I couldn’t be happier about it.
Here’s the DeLorean DMC-12 from “Back to the Future”.

Another shot of the DeLorean.

Not one, but two Herbie Volkswagen Bugs drove by.

Herbie fully loaded, with stickers and new rims!

The Pontiac Trans-Am from “Smokey and the Bandit”.

Look out, it’s them Duke boys speeding by in the General Lee!

I wonder if Boss Hog will ever catch ’em.

Apparently this was Bumblebee from the Transformers movie.
I wouldn’t know, because I tried blocking that bastardization of a beloved childhood memory from my mind long ago.

Starsky & Hutch. Word.

Scooby Doo riding on by in The Mystery Machine van!

Well whaddaya know! It’s the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Van along with April O’Neil walking beside it!

And yes, that’s the same van from the TMNT video I appeared in earlier this year.

Probably the most intimidating van in history – the classic van from The A-Team.

It’s KITT from Knight Rider.
(fun fact: KITT stands for “Knight Industries Two Thousand)

There was a second Knight Rider car that drove by and the motion lights on the front were gold instead of red.
Must’ve been KITT’s brother, KATT. (HAR!)

Time to go off-roading with Jurassic Park.

Smile while you can kid… you’ll be devoured by a Velociraptor soon enough. Merry Christmas!

Now this one was a real treat for me… I’m a HUGE fan of John Carpenter’s “Christine”, so getting to see the Plymouth Fury
from the film was nothing short of awesome. I do wish they had it playing 1950s rock & roll when it drove by though.

I’ve seen it plenty of times over the years, but the Ecto-1 from Ghostbusters is always a welcome sight.

Are you kidding me!? Alright, they definitely saved the best for last. An X-34 Landspeeder occupied by
two Jawas with perfect glowing yellow eyes, a Tusken Raider, and Leia in the Boushh disguise. Amazing.

Nothing says “Christmas” like an X-34 Landspeeder chasing after the Ecto-1 chasing after Christine.

Star Car Central, around the globe!

Well even though I invented the word “Crossgeeking” to discribe those fans who like more than one fan favorite item from two different worlds  (like “Herbie the Love Bug” and speaking Klingon)  I am certainly not the only star car fan who realized that the only thing better than seeing a famous movie or TV car driving down the street, is a whole bunch of them!

The loose coalition of StarCarCentral.com chapters continues to grow and meet all around the globe!

Here’s what’s going on around the world, in the world of StarCar get togethers, that is!

AUSTRALIA!

Alex has the heart to get a group going Down Under,  he says that the main 3 focuses will be for those who want to hire a car, A social group of like minded a little crazy movie car enthusiats, and helping out with Charities as much as they can. 🙂
Australian Chapter is looking for Founding members, so if you have a movie or TV star car, send Alex an email info@starcarsaus.com.au

NATE TRUMAN’S STARCARCENTRAL.COM ON THE RED CARPET FOR THE 2011 HOLLYWOOD CHRISTMAS PARADE!

FRANCE!!!

In France Claude heads up an active chapter of his own, doing all of the hard work to organize weekend events.  Star Car owners from France and near by countries have had several great get togethers in the last few years, and they have another one coming up!  If you are in France why not stop by and join in the fun!

Here’s the info:

Just under two months before the Meeting of Cars stars of Cinema & TV in Port Dienville (France).
Like last year, the lodging of Colombier welcomes us but with a little fewer rooms. We will complete with homestay but with limited possibilities.
So I need to know soon if some of you are planning to join us during the two days (Saturday 21 and Sunday, July 22) that we may organize the reception at best. Of course I know it’s difficult for those who have anocean to cross ! I remind you that the home is offered for maximum 2 persons per crew.

Here is the provisional program :

Saturday, July 21
– Appointment from 10:00 (location to be defined according to the planned activity in the afternoon but it will be in the Lake District or region of Bar sur Aube)
– 12:00: Picnic at the place of Rendez-Vous
– 1:00 p.m.: Shooting a short film with our cars featured. For its 10 years anniversary, the site http://www.retourverslefutur.com/  in collaboration with McFly Prod and 10200 Z’Images launched a screenplay competition on the theme of movie cars. After selection, the winning scenario is being re-write. We will send you as soon as it will be ready.
IMPORTNANT: for this shoot, we also need to know what are the vehicles that will be present (organization, insurance, license)
– 7:00 p.m.: Appointment at Colombier for a festive and friendly presentation of the cars to the public. Buffet on site.

Sunday, July 22
– 10:00 Appointment with clubs and other owners (location will be specified later) then trek to Port Dienville (road book supplied). Besides, if you belong to a club, feel free to invite members on Sunday. The registration form will be posted on our web site soon and I will send you a pdf version to share.
– Arrival at Port Dienville between 11:00 and 12:00. We anticipate a grouped arrival of the cars of Cinema & TV for the show !
– 12:00: Lunch in Port-Dienville
– From 12:00 to 6:00 p.m.: exhibition of cars (Cinema, collection, exception) on the site of Port-Dienville (if it’s sunny and hot, nearby beach and swimming possible for people who appreciate)
– 3:00 p.m.: Parade of cars stars

HOLLAND!!!

Dutch Dukes Cars Meeting

We had a little meeting  in Holland well, technically it was in Belgium ’cause it was like 2 miles across the border

convention for movie cars here in Belgium Bruges on the weekend of 6.7.and 8 september 2013 ,here you have the link to the page made http://www.facebook.com/groups/362397297148643/movie cars convention  in Bruges next year .  the weekend of 6, 7, and 8 september 2013 .on sunday 8 september i will organize even a meeting with all american cars , ihope you can all jon us .Please don’t add people from he U.S. or Ausralia or japan because those people won’t come !!this convention is specialy for people from Europe !!! this would be for a hole weekend from friday until sunday ,hotel will be arranged and parkings for your cars too,

http://www.motionpicturecars.net/

Nate Truman’s StarCarCentral.com gang were invited to be a part of the “Hollywood Treasures” TV show where Nate and Ken from TMPCC helped the staff and stars of the show locate the screen used Camaro from the first Transformers movie, SCC member Randy drove it in with the “seat suit” to hide the driver, so it looked like it was just driving itself.  Randy also brought it out for the Drag races in Barona, CA.

Charger Steve from the San Diego Chapter of StarCarCentral.com put on a great event with cars from Nate’s group going up against the San Diego area movie and TV car owners,  for a long fun day of StarCar Drag Racing!!!

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Nate Truman’s Shaguar, vs Alex’s KITT from Knight Rider CLICK ON LINK TO WATCH!

So the days of me hunting around the world for other fans with little result, has changed quite a bit!  Spend some time and look around facebook, or google for events happening near you.  I am sure after a while you will start connecting with other movie and TV starcar fans and find they are a lot of fun to hang out with, and of course, DRIVE those cool cars!

Crossgeeking at it’s finest. My Shaguar and A-Team meet up for the first time!

So get out there and find a few “mates” to share your hobby! Enjoy, Share, and do some good – put some smiles on other people’s faces, and you just might find one on your own!  To the Batmobiles, Let’s go!!!!

StarCarCentral.com all over the place!

Greetings, starcar fan!

As my time to write up articles about famous movie and TV cars has been trunkated by new projects,  here at least is what’s been going on around  SCC the past month or so!

Fireball Tim -movie and TV car designer and pal to the SCC has been doing fun short videos over on his site and working his way through the SCC line up!

Chuck aka “Rod Riguez” is the latest captured on camera with Fireball!

before that both Jerry with his Herbie, and Lou with his Starsky and Hutch Torino took Tim for a spin as well!

This last weekend a few SCC members headed out to the Pumpkin Festival in Calabassas and had a great time with the Great Pumpkin!

HERBIE AND ROBOCOP? ONLY AT STARCARCENTRAL.COM!

A few of the “southern” SCC guys did a mid week event at the Temecula Valley International Film Festival and dropped off the movie makers and stars to the red carpet in September GARY with his KITT from Knight Rider, TONY  and his SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT Trans Am along with  JERRY and his HERBIE.

Our annual appearance at the South Pasadena Police and Fire Open house was a big gathering and lots of fun as well!

The “HERBIE’S” took a road trip finding many of the filming locations from their “Love Bug” movies ending up at where else? Disneyland!

Then Ten star cars were on display at “Crusin for a Cure” to help find a cure for Prostate Cancer – A surprise visit from a new Green Hornet from San Diego area was a highlight!

(Photos you ask? Well, my computer crashed and guess what went with it?) I did meet up with a new star car pal,
with his Frese -McQueen – He works at Disney so no copyright infringement is implied. How about “Thunder-McQueen?” (Copyright Nate Truman 2011)

Then the 10-4 day parade down hollywood blvd had Adam-12 and Robocop along with the Batmobile with lights and sirens blaring to honor policemen and women both real and “REEL”

Here’s a fan video from up above, of the police cars followed by THE BATMOBILE!  “That is not Batman and Robin!” 🙂 you are correct, we are wasting gas and having fun with our old cars.  🙂

A group display showed up at the Route 66 9/11 event and tribute up in the Northern part of Los Angeles as well!

Then a visit with the cast of the 1966 Batman televisions series, a meeting with Doc Savage aka Tarzan, aka Ron Ely –

and a get together with Rex Smith star of “Streethawk” in an effort to build him a Streethawk bike mold so he can get back on

his TV star car.  (Anyone have any info on the whereabouts of the Streethawk bikes? Also looking for a 80’s Reb Brown Capt. America Bike, and a Battlestar Galactica 1980 Bike and Helmet set!)

Next up is the Harmony Car show!  If you want to stop by and see the SCC up close and in person, here’s your next event.
Harmony Car Show
When: Saturday
Time:(10am-3pm)
Where: Barnes Park 320 W. New Mark Monterey Park,Ca 91754
Will we see JASON  and his new TMNT VAN?
ALEX KITT OSCAR MAGNUM P.I.
NATE (That’s me! I will actually get to attend one of my own events!) and I will drive either the BATMOBILE OR THE A-TEAM VAN, JERRY HERBIE, JON TRANSFORMERS BUMBLEBEE,
MARK ROBOCOP AND ALWAYS FUN FLOR WITH HER SCREEN USED WOODY ALLEN ISETTA COP CAR

AFTER BURNER OR TREAT!

Then of course Batman will be all over the place for Halloween weekend, from Thursday to Monday at events, openings and just cruising around!
So as soon as my computer is repaired and my photos can be stored all in one place again, that’s the latest!

Star Car Central update! See famous movie and TV cars in August 2011~ to the batmobile!

OK star car fans, I have been asked to post more info on where we will be appearing so here ya go! Here’s the line up for the rest of August!

This Saturday Aug. 20, 2011 join Nate Truman and a big chunk of the Star Car Central gang for a  FUND RAISER for a  youth center in Montery Park.

Show Time: 3pm to 9pm

Location: Praise Alive Worship Center 201 S. New Ave., Monterey Park, Ca. 91755

Star Cars Confirmed so far:

1) Paul – BTTF DeLorean

2) Jason – Ratchett

3) Brian – Herbie or Bond

4) Oscar – Magnum PI

5) Jason – Herbie

6) Jon – Bumblebee

7) Sue – Get Smart

7) Ari – Jurasic Park Jeep

8) Mark – Adam 12

9) Alex – KITT

10) Nate in Batmobile! He’s actually going to bring it out of the garage, even after getting the right rims on his A-Team van! (I’ll believe it when I see it!)

So join us for some music and star car fun this Saturday!

Then on Sunday

AUG 21ST SUNDAY  SCC-SD CHARGER STEVE’S WILD RIDES AND CLASSIC CARS 6AM  
 This Sunday, if you are in the San Diego area, check out these SCC member’s cool movie and TV car rides!

http://www.chargersteve.com/pb/wp_8ca66bb4.html?0.31193643528426784
   BRIAN HERBIE OR BOND
JENNIFER KITT
LEE GENERAL LEE
STEVE SCOOBY DOO
MIKE TOWMATER
ARI JURRASIC PARK

TONY BANDIT

RICHARD PETTY CAR

Bikini Contests, star cars and great San Diego weather, what more do you want? Check it out!Aug 28th SUNDAY this yr. 9-4 ANIMAL ADOPTION EVENT
Ventura County Animal shelter. event is on August 28.At the shelter in the Camerillo Airport.This will be our 7th year and anywhere from 150-200 animals find homes that day. Event is located at: 600 aviation drive in Camarillo.

The shelter is located on the property of the Camarillo Airport.There will be signs that will be posted they will say adoptathon.Off ramp off the fwy is Los Posas.  Starcars attending as of today: Jon’s Transformer BUMBLEBEE Camaro and Brian’s Die Another Day
007  JAMES BOND CAR!  If you want to adopt a pet and can’t make it, send my pal Craig Nadel an email!

Craig Nadel

ruffbarber@yahoo.com
Thank you for choosing to adopt a special orphan in need of a loving home.
http://www.rescuemeinc.petfinder.com

Aug  31 wednesday SCC-SD Cajon Classic Cruise Star Car Event (The Wed night show) http://downtownelcajon.com/event_ccc.shtml
Back down in San Diego, Charger Steve is lining up some star cars Mid week for all to enjoy!

Gary’s  herbie
Steve Scooby Doo Van
Michael towmater tow truck
Lee      general Lee from Dukes of Hazzard will all be on display!

There are lots of events for the Cajon Cruise, but only this one has star cars!

So come on out and say “HOWDY!”  and bring your camera and friends!

SUPER STARCARCENTRAL FRIENDS! MONSTER JAM IN ANAHEIM THE WAIT IS OVER FOR THE WORLD PREMIER MOVIE!

What exactly is “starcarcentral.com”? that’s a question I get all the time.  Well, basically it’s a moving event/charity/party I have been putting on since 2003!

This video was shot at the Monster Jam truck show, where the star car owners met the fans, then took to the mud in the arena at Anaheim Stadium!   Special thanks to Charger Steve (he’s in the cowboy hat and was too busy to pose with his Smokey and the Bandit Trans Am or General Lee that day) and to all the great guys and gals who came out to the party!  We appear as an attraction at many charity events around So. Cal., on TV shows and videos, commercials and the freeways!   Check this blog and starcarcentral.com international on facebook for updates on future appearances. Contact me at  info@starcarcentral.com if you want to join up!

STAR CAR NEWS FROM AROUND THE USA AND THE WORLD! GO TEAM SCC! (THAT’S STAR CAR CENTRAL!)

Starcar fans are all around the world, and starcarcentral.com is trying to keep up with all of our members and chapters so you can find the famous movie and TV car events near you!

One of the most active groups outside of Nate Truman’s  Hollywood division is run by Dee up in the upper left corner of the USA!  He has even started a “starcar Concourse”.  After searching for star cars all over the U.S. Dee and Nate found several owners and they all started hanging out together up north!  So heres the info on their upcoming event!

Its time for the big 5th Annual ‘Star Car Concourse Classic” show at the Americas Car Museum.

The show is always the last Saturday in August, this year the 27th, and is held at the LeMay Museum’s Marymount location in the Tacoma/Spanaway area. This will be a ‘sanctioned’ AMCA event, hosted by the International Movie & TV Vehicle Owners Association and madmaxcars.com. The larger event, the LeMay/Americas Car Museum’s “Openhouse” that we are featured at, is a VERY COOL annual event even if it were not for the moviecars contribution, so it is well worth the trip. You can find the basic details on our events page here: http://www.madmaxcars.com/events.shtml

Then out in the middle of the USA Michael Knight has a great group that is now doing Comic cons and features one of the two original Monkeemobiles!  Here’s a few shots of them sharing the star cars with fans of all shapes and sizes at a recent con!

"Robin, you seem.... Different?"

Original Ghostbuster Ernie Hudson showed up to see and sign the Ghostbuster tribute car (Hey, before you point out it’s not the right body style, not everyone can find a 1959 Mercury Meteor Ambulance, ok? )

Ghostbuster Ernie Hudson and SCC chapter leader Mike Knight!

Everyone had a great time chatting up Ernie about his time as a ghostbuster, and he even signed their car!

"To StarCarCentral.com, thanks for the cool car... what? I don't get to keep it?"

Like I mentioned before, They also have one of the two Monkeemobiles from the old TV series, and it showed up at a live Monkee show!

Well what did you expect them to be rolling in?

Meanwhile, over in Europe, France specifically, Claude has been hosting a great star car get together each year, and it keeps getting bigger each time!

And an article in the french mag “La Vie de l’Auto” The N°1 for the collectors in France! 🙂

Thanks to guys like Michael, Dee, and Claude – fan boys and girls around the US and the world have opportunities to see and get up close to their favorite movie and TV cars!

Where ever there are two or more starcars gathered in the SCC name, you are sure to have a party with some fun loving people!  So to all those who are lovers of cool creations for the screen,

thanks for being part of the star car movement in your neck of the woods!  TO THE BATMOBILE! Transformers, ROLL OUT!   If you see a star car, or better yet, a bunch of them together,

Make sure you say “HI” and tell them you saw them here first!

KITT and Batmobile NOT everyone’s top movie cars! Here’s some rarely talked about star cars!

 

Here is Jim’s list of his favorites, and his reasons for choosing them!

My favorite TV and movie cars: It’s not KITT and the Batmobile

Lists of great movie vehicles are pretty boring because they usually list the same blockbuster choices. Here’s a few from off the beaten path.

YEE-HAW: The General Lee (a ’69 Dodge Charger) takes a ride. (Photo courtesy of CBS)

The next episode of “Hollywood’s Top Ten” (Friday night at 11:30 p.m. Pacific on ReelzChannel) features viewers’ choices for the coolest movie/TV cars, and you know what they’re going to pick: the Batmobiles, the custom Cadillac Ecto-1 from “Ghostbusters,” the jalopy on “The Beverly Hillbillies,” James Bond’s Aston-Martin, KITT from “Knight Rider.”

They wouldn’t give me the whole list — that’s why you tune in — but here are a few of the winners:

• The Trans Am from “Smokey and the Bandit”
• The ’69 Charger from “The Dukes of Hazzard”
• The ’56 Thunderbird from “American Graffiti”

Ho-hum. But there are some less-heralded cars out in movie and TV land, and here are my five, very personal, favorites:

The Saint’s Volvo: The Saint, played by Roger Moore on the 1962-1969 TV show, drove a Volvo 1800S, just like me. Mine was even the same color as his. The Saint was a low-rent James Bond, and the car — a sporty version of the 122S, with nearly identical mechanicals — was no Aston-Martin. The Saint could pursue criminals, but not if they were moving too fast. Switching into “overdrive” provided a powerful visual, but the 1800 topped off around 100 mph. And zero to 60? Well, maybe 11 seconds.

The Alfa-Romeo Duetto from “The Graduate”: Another personal connection because I owned that car’s linear descendant, a 1976 Alfa Spider (with a cut-off Kamm tail instead of the Duetto’s rounded example). Alfa even created a “Graduate” model because of the popularity of the movie and the car’s starring role in pursuit of a stopped wedding, with Dustin Hoffman at the wheel. The exposure garnered by this ’66 Duetto 1600 didn’t save Alfa’s fortunes in the U.S., but it probably postponed the departure for a number of years.

The “Bad Timing” Mercedes: Admittedly not a star movie car, this circa 1959 Mercedes 220S from Nicholas Roeg’s 1980 “Bad Timing” again duplicates one of my own cars — my all-time favorite. It was probably the scene with Denholm Elliot and Teresa Russell, captured in the video below, that stimulated my interest in the car in the first place. Alas, I let mine get away, and now I couldn’t touch a nice one for less than $10,000. If you get a chance, it’s a really good movie (forget what the blurb says) — from the director of “Walkabout” and “Performance.” Kind of hard to find, though.

The “Julie & Julia” Buick: I’d love to own one, but they’re worth $40,000, so it’s not likely anytime soon. The movie’s production designer describes the car as “a 1947 wooded blue Buick station wagon.” It was nicknamed the Blue Flash, and found in France where they filmed much of the movie. Sorry to disagree with Mark Ricker, but I think it’s actually a later car than 1947. Can I suggest that it was actually a 1950 Roadmaster with a 1949-style two-piece windshield? “It could have been Paul and Julia’s original car, as far as we knew,” said Ricker. Maybe.

The 1962 Cadillac Coupe de Ville from “Mad Men”: Don Draper (John Hamm) brings home this beauty in the second season, at his boss’ urging. It’s interesting that there was no product placement here — instead, it’s exactly the right car for the character at that time. It’s the car Don thinks he wants, even though it turns out all wrong for him. This is the pinnacle of  “Standard of Excellence” Cadillacs, for a guy on top of the Madison Avenue nest of snakes. There were some great Cadillac ads in National Geographic around this time. The Draper-type owner was shown heading into a country club with his fur-bearing wife, looking back at the car that his power and prestige had secured for him.

There’s actually an Internet Movie Car Database you can search by make. Have fun with it. Make up your own list and post your choices below in the comments — I’d love to see what you come up with.

Montery Park plays host to StarCarCentral in Parade! Let’s ROLL!

 May 21st was the City of Monterey Park’s “Play Day Parade and Carnival”. Lots of marching bands a marching, drill teams a drilling and horses a pooping and a call went out to Nate Truman’s StarCarCentral.com group to show up and Rock the HOUSE!

‘KITT!  TURBOBOOST, QUICK!!!”

KITT may be impervious to harm, but he was still seen navigating around horse manure!  Lot of fun in the sun and cool covered parking for the Star Cars of the day. This new Star Car Central event was organized and coordinated by “Starcarcentraloid” Jason “Buckaroo” Ybarra (Transformer Ratchet). Jason did a great job in putting a group together for this event in a very short time. A special thanks goes out to Jon Merker (Bumble Bee Transformer) for providing the Stanchions and for being the only guy tall enough to plug our electrical cords in the outlet that was located approx. eight feet high.

Star Car Central, ROLL OUT!

A big bunch of  Star Car Central rolled out for the Montery Park Parade this year!  ROLL CALL:  Here was the line up!  Jason (Ratchet Transformer van), jon  (Bumblebee Camaro),alex (KITT from Knight Rider) with his boy “Will I Am”,Oscar (Magnum P.I. Ferrari)

Tony (Smokey and the Bandit Trans Am) , Paul “The Banner Boy Guy” and Reba “Clara” Parkinson (Back to the Future Delorean). We all met at Mcdonalds then cruised to the parade route.  At the main booth they announced the driver and the cars over the loudspeaker. From there we ended up at the park where the carnival was going on. David Barron, the Monterey park city clerk ( Jason’s  former neighbor) set the gang up with a nice place to display our cars, treated all of us to shakeys pizza and drinks. We were even announced durring the awards ceremony and star car central.Com won a 1st place trophy!

The Autobots were taking charge!

It was a stop and go parade, mostly marching bands and drill teams.  High light for Oscar and his Magnum Ferrari was when he  was announced as the Hawaii 5-0 car when he pass the grand stands! NICEEE. Kids today, they need to watch more classic TV!

Oscar also coined a new term,  “starcarcentraloids”   we shall see if it sticks!    Everyone had a great time,  except Nate, who wasn’t there.  Next, other events Nate didn’t go to.

🙂  But soon, I will be back on the road with my gang of cool dude and dudettes in the sweetest rides ever seen on screen!~  Thanks to Jason for a quick parade! Great job guys!