Is Tarantino a Gearhead? "Once Upon A Time..."
 

We had some extra time on our hands last night and it just worked out that we were near a theater and ten minutes from the start of the new Tarantino movie, Once Upon A Time in Hollywood. I knew nothing about the movie nor its all-star cast (Pitt, Di Caprio, Pacino, Bruce Dern, Kurt Russell). There is also a mind-bending appearance by a dead-on doppelganger playing the King of Cool!

Anyways, it's a period piece - 1969 to be exact. And like Inglorious Basterds, it an alternate take on events that happened in LA at the end of the 60's. The acting is just fantastic, the story so-so, but oh my God the CARS!!! The film is a love letter to old LA, and LA, of course, is a car town. SO many excellent cars - MG's, AH's, E-type Jag etc etc. I looked VERY hard at the street scenes and I'd be damned if I could find a single vehicle out of place and time. Even the RTD buses were correct.

And the P-Cars - I missed the first couple, but I think I counted a total of 3 early 911's (the first was a Targa in the parking lot of Musso & Frank - polo red I think). I know I might have been pushing it a bit, but about half way through I couldn't resist taking a few of stills:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1564611044.JPG

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1564611044.JPG

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Somebody has an amazing eye for detail!

Jay Sebring, hairdresser to the stars and Manson victim, drove a new black 911S coupe that was of course parked at the Cielo Dr. house when he was killed w Tate, etc. He was close to McQueen, who was supposed to be there that night but had the flu or something. :eek:

I actually saw that house before it was demolished in the late ‘80s, I was working on a house on the street. They had changed the address but it was still the Manson murder house. :(

I'm looking forward to seeing the movie, mostly for the period scenes though I really like Tarantino.

I know the movie is set in '69 so not sure why they used a '73 E or S 911... front bumper, driver door mirror, black horn grilles (some debate on these chrome vs. black in 72) and sugar scoops would have been on the car. Good that they used one without the front bumperettes.

Suffice it to say that every movie car guy in town was busier than a one-armed paper hanger when they were shooting this and small detail mistakes w cars happen in all films. The year of the early 911 would be missed by 99.999% of viewers, so NBD.

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lol

Really, they had to be. There are shots of 6 lanes of period correct vehicles in traffic. Signage too (but I'm guessing some of that had to be cgi).

The biggest anachronism I could spot (and I'm not that good at it) was all the "K" rails on the Hollywood (101/170) freeway. I def remember the original guardrails!

Evidently, Pitt and Dicaprio's characters are based on Burt Reynolds and his stuntman. And Sharon Tate had a sweet Ferrari 275 GTB. So maybe it's not Tarantino but the time period and people the characters are based on?

My buddy Johnny Agnew and his partner Steve Butcher wrangled the cars and trailers for the film. It was a little tough because they were shooting Ford Vs. Ferrari at the same time and vintage vehicles were being booked left and right.

Stuntman was Hal Needham who became a director (Gator, Smokey And The Bandit, etc.).

Johnny and Steve..

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1564616628.jpg

Stuff from the film...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1564616669.jpg

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And this is what they do on the side. This will go for big $$$$$

https://blog.dupontregistry.com/for-sale/1950-westcraft-capistrano-calypso-for-sale/?fbclid=IwAR3XIGQr-5_D0mx3cJFRkfOkSAfxyqP0p-m5m1jIZPA3khZzMlny9b0pgkM

Another car in the movie. Brad Pitt in a Karmann.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1564619170.jpg

Okay, that is the far side of the camera rig on this side of the Ghia

I like those old trailers, that second one is the cat's ass.

The used a '73 because that is what they could get, and it does not matter, a silly detail. I bet you could park them next to each other and 99% of the people would not know which is which.

All cars with the right headlights and grills were parked in the Ford v Ferrari lot

Look forward to seeing the movie.
(The number/letter format on the black license plates isn't correct)

Yeah, I was wondering about that. I wonder why that is?

That's because all the original configurations have been used..ca is making the black plate again

:D Love this pic, Craigster. Is that trailer one they're planning to rehab for sale? I really like its current patina and "attitiude."

There are a good many vehicle photos on IMCDb.org already ...many/most taken during shooting:

IMCDb.org: "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, 2019": cars, bikes, trucks and other vehicles

That house had such a wild history; it was rented out, and then the owner lived in it after the murders up until the late 80s when he started just renting it out again.

Trent Reznor was the last person to live it in, from like 92-94, where he setup a studio in the damn living room.

It was demolished after he moved out, in '94.; I have a feeling he threw some wild parties there along with all the studio gear trashing the place and the owner decided to just bulldoze it and build something new and modern anyway.

Trent took the front door off the hinges when he moved out.

Really enjoyed the movie--The Caddy is Michael Madsen's personal car and was used in "Reservoir Dogs" as well.

Here's an article about the cars:

https://www.thewrap.com/once-upon-a-time-in-hollywood-cars-reservoir-dogs/

"It’s not that Tarantino is specifically a car guy, but Butcher says in working with him on “Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood,” he can see his intense devotion to recreating a period in Hollywood that he clearly adores."


Hey thanks Craig - so that's it right there: it's not so much that he's a gearhead, it's just a meticulous attention to detail (and knowing who to lean on to make it happen)!

But the movie takes place in 1969, so the plates are not period correct for the movie.

The propmaster is responsible for re-plating all cars. The plates are random, made by a prop shop. Some "hero" plates are molded, other background plates are just printed on plastic.

Sometimes they are "tributes" like John Milner's roadster in "American Graffiti", The plate was THX 138 which was homage to George Lucas' first big feature "THX 1138".

Recycled Uma car from Kill Bill 2 ?

1969 was the last year for the original black/yellow plate in CA, but they had a 3-letter, 3-number format. In addition, the standard new-issue black/yellow plates have 7 characters...the originals ('63-'69) had only 6.

If that's the case, I'll have to pass on the movie.

That 1950 Westcraft travel trailer is absolutely stunning. Just gorgeous, both inside & out. Did Agnew and Butcher restore this beauty?

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I know those guys, mostly Steve because he picked up my friend’s super valuable 1930s Spartan here in Tujunga and possibly handled the shipping of it to England. They are the best around. I saw the photos before of him in the behind the scenes shots for OUTIH.

If they worked on “Ford vs. Ferrari”, they must have worked w my friend Billy Stabile who supplies all of the replica race cars. He had some company in Wisconsin build fake GT40s. :cool:

EDIT: Johnny is the one in overalls, right?

Uma had a nasty accident in that car and had some hard feelings during the film:
https://www.businessinsider.com/uma-thurman-injury-on-the-set-of-kill-bill-2018-2

Saw the movie tonight.
It was...a Tarantino film fer sure.
There were a few nice car scenes but obviously not enough.

Did someone mention trailers?
 

Saw this beauty on the 210 today near Sunland, not sure of the make(?) :eek:
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Looks like a late 40s Airstream but longer than the 19' in the picture.
Maybe it's a Trailwind with the rear single window replaced.
Vintage Airstream Photo Archives - Vintage Airstream
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1564727139.jpg

I don't think they did anything on Ford Vs Ferrari since the projects overlapped, it was more the logistics of booking vintage cars since both films needed basically the same period.

Yeah Johnny's in the overalls, he's always wearing overalls. I'll probably see them later this month at Charles Phoenix's slide show/ screening of Lucy and Desi's "The Long, Long Trailer". They helped wrangle trailers and vehicles for the new version.

Here's a link if any locals are interested...

https://www.charlesphoenix.com/event/charles-phoenix-the-long-long-trailer/?fbclid=IwAR0NJmF0LNTkvCQ-YWqZ5hcWla2G0ttXkJ56gAUpQyfZtDnPKXHtDc5rd1Q

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Saw the movie today. I'm thinking so-so, not great and not bad. But it did confirm that Brad Pitt cannot act, same in all his movies.

Hard to believe that 5 minutes made 2.5 hours worthwhile but here we are. Excellent movie making that propped up a so-so story with an excellent ending. Ending could have been longer.

Black car is definitely a 73. Red Targa most likely a SWB, the door mirrors (passenger side addition being a crime) were anyway.