After several weeks of reading, I have made it to the end. I stumbled upon this forum while searching for information about the cars that have gone off Mulholland. I hike the trail below and have seen the photos in this thread and the photos that were taken by a photographer 10ish years ago, but have not seen photos of a few things that were discussed/mentioned. The few things I'm wondering about are the 38(?) that Banning saw on it's lid, an old delivery truck, and the stack of cars the photographer mentioned (is this the junk pile below Carl's?). If there are no photographs and these things exist, I'd like to photograph them sometime in the Winter if someone is willing to lead me to them.

Now that I have my personal agenda out of the way, I would like to thank everyone who has contributed to this thread and shared their stories. It has been very educational and I feel a lot more connected to Los Angeles and the area I live in than before.

I grew up in San Jose and have always been around fast cars and love racing. I caught the car bug pretty early and have never been able to shake it. Some of my best memories from High School were the times spent in the driveway wrenching, cruising El Camino, and street racing (drag). It's sad that kids don't have the same opportunities for fun any longer.

For those of us in the South Bay the twisty roads to drive were Hicks, Highway 17, and Highway 9. There are definitely more, but those are the big 3. To my knowledge no one raced them like they race(d) Mulholland and in my opinion those three roads don't even compare. I thought that I was a pretty good driver, but then I drove Mulholland and learned quickly that Canyon Roads are not to be messed with.

Thanks again for the history lesson and sorry if I weirded you out at Bob's last Friday Derek.

Something to consider;

Does anyone know who owns the original King of the Mountain (sorry can't remember the original title) script? Reboots are all the rage in Hollywood right now. Period pieces are also a pretty popular thing right now. There are tax breaks for films shot in California. The Fast & Furious franchise is very popular, grosses a lot of money and has a Worldwide audience. I know there are Industry people reading this thread. Now is the time to tell the story of Mulholland correctly.


In response to post #7004

Zeke, I do not want a Fast and Furious version, I only used that as a reference to show that a film based around fast cars can be successful and I disagree with some of what you said, because at the end of the day you cannot predict what an audience will and will not like. No one expected Black Swan to be a hit.

I firmly believe that if you have a great story that is well written and characters that an audience can identify with or latch on to, you'll be on the right track to profitability, throw in a good soundtrack and maybe that brings more people in. Dazed and Confused and Almost Famous are two good examples of the type of story I would like to see told.

I would bet that if the right Production/Writing team took a stab at this story, it has a chance at being successful. I realize that it won't be 100% accurate and I didn't mean to suggest that, just get it close. The story doesn't also have to be a remake of King of the Mountain, it can start out with the group of Mulholland racers who ended up working in the automotive industry and racing in the big leagues.

Biographies are also very popular in Hollywood right now and what I suggested above is a proven formula, a bunch of underdogs/outcasts do good. You would also be able branch off into other stories with the above starting point by doing Bio pics on Barris, Guldstrand, etc...

Regarding Le Mans, are you aware that last year in LA they were filming the Ferrari vs Ford (finally) story? It stars Christian Bale and Matt Damon. I think Le Mans is about to get hot and along with that will come a desire to tell more stories about race cars and the people that make them go.


FADE IN

A boy lies sleeping in his bed. The faint sound of a car engine can be heard. The boy opens his eyes and runs to the window as the faint sound of the engine gets louder. The boy looks out the window and sees headlights moving quickly across the mountain side.

CUT TO - Car Interior

We see the profile of a man with one hand on the wheel and the other holding a can of beer. We hear the engine roaring. The man looks in his rearview mirror and sees headlights quickly approaching. The man smiles and takes a drink.

Charley - Forkin' kids

Charley then tosses the can out the window and downshifts. The roar turns into a scream...

Haha... not weird at all, man. Cheers.

The entertainment industry will never tell a story accurately. If you want the Fast and Furious version, all you do is throw in a few sub plots, some of which involve nearly nude and hot girls, and you might make it. However, if attendance to auto racing events is any indicator, this will never reach mainstream.

Seems to me I read here somewhere that a racing film has been recently released. I believe it's about Hurley Haywood and it doesn't shy from the fact that Haywood is gay, something he came out with in his biography in early 2018. We'll have to see how that one fares. And we'll have to see how much racing vs. personal and professional relationships play in the movie.

But a movie about a bunch of hooligan racers in the wee hours of the morning is not the stuff of the big screen. So, you'll have a cult movie at best. I'd watch, but we here are much more auto enthusiastic than the general population. I'll bet if you went out in public and asked what month and in what country the 24 Hours of Le Mans takes place, I bet only 1 in 50 get one of the answers correct in spite of Steve McQueen.

Ya I kind of don't want Hollywood to ruin it either. If anyone did a movie, it should be kind of like the Van Nuys blvd. movie. We were standing around a lot, hoping the girls liked our cars, or we had girlfriends and were trying to have some fun, without them getting mad, and bored. It was all about scoring some beer too. Naturally our cars weren't as fast as we thought, but some were! We mainly followed very fast each other back and forth in a caravan or chain. You would get on it some, if you encountered like an old guy in a Porsche, harass his tail.

My family knew Dick Guldstrand since I say 1958, maybe 1957 and I have a whole bunch of his stuff. Him and my Dad would cruise down the road as fast as anyone, but they never did the night time stuff, but during the winter it was night, but early. They were grown men, and married, and in their super hot Vettes that had actual race suspensions (unlike Charlie Woit's car), they could chew on any import of any Porsche, BMW persuasion, or anything else. Doug Hooper the winner of the 1962 Riverside International Raceway race, the very first C2 Corvette #119 win over the first ever Shelby Cobra entered, he was right down the hill, and took the cars he worked on up from his garage, for some testing, to check his work. He probably ran it more for testing/fun than Guldstrand. Dick used the road to commute up to his house just to the north, by father would do a dinner at his house, but usually it was lunch and he would drop back to the 101, and come home down the 10 or 60, or the 134. He had a whole bunch of Direct Mail Marketing customers in the car trades as his customers, so he took the Vette or his 356B into the Valley alot. He liked the twisty roads when heading on over. As for Dick, as i said, I have a ton of Guldstrand's personal stuff, but also about the whole entire line of products in my garage from his race catalogs (many new spares, and on all of the cars (4 Corvettes total). I have sat talking to him about all of this way before this thread, and during this thread prior to my announcement in this thread of his passing away, and where his funeral was being held. I had to go to Rennsport that weekend, but have stopped grave side, and went to his house prior to the Estate Sale and during the Estate sale with Hemmings Corvette Dave. His involvement won't warrant a movie part, unless you had the Carradine brother's 1972 Corvette or the GS-80 Vin#1 Traco tuned car he built for Eddie Van Halen to drive up there (I have that invoice for that car build). Put both in the movie- as he did a Vette Magazine article called King of Mulholland (Carradine), but that car was a slow pig, so just a Hollywood hot shot dreaming. Even though Guldstand might have piloted some of the faster cars thru there, he was never up there looking for races, but if he ran around you, he would kick your ass. My Father's car used to run the SCCA Solo 2 events and win, FTD of all Corvettes period most weekends, when they showed up. It was a GRA Club car (Guldstand Racing Association) ride, featured in his shop pictures, and it's hey day was about 1987-93, well passed the Mulholland heyday, but it was an Autocrosser since about 1969, and was developed on the twisty roads, since 1969. By 1972, it had the full race suspension, running around on the street. We were the first C3 in the Country on 335/17 rear tires. We even had NOS three (drag only), then two stage (used it autocrossing) on the car. It is pictured on my participation back on like Pg. 339/340. Guldstrand took it home quite a number of times, and he liked it, so he usually planned fun with it. as he was working on it. Gave my father like a C2 or C1 or whatever as a loaner.
The guys in this thread are the story. Not visitors to Mulholland like me, or the adults. In a movie, you might have a scene where a new car is seen prowling, and the locals took interest. Generally the concern of the Police just allowed you at times to jump in yours and try to chase it down. If the guy even knew you were following him. As I am the Corvette guy on here (have three of them- 1963 Autocross car, 1964 SCCA Racer, and a 1968 street rod, with the suspension goodies), I had posted on Charlie Woit in another Pelican thread on here about Mulholland, and onto the Corvette Forum. I finally got an answer from someone that knew him and shared a lot of his story. Since I have gotten some more information. He had a hot Vette, it had good shocks (nothing like the double adjusts we run), it had big sway bars (not with the sophisticated heim links and delrin/aluminum pillow blocks, and it had headers, but had the mufflers in usually. Thus the car wasn't that fast in the Corvette racing world, but it would be a top car up there, as a bouncy suspension probably handled the rough road better. To run that road back in the day, the race suspensions on like by Father's car is actuall too brutal, but no stock Porsche or Corvette could touch it still on that road. When I have ran it, you just hit road imperfections and skip right over or threw them. The solid a-arm bushings, and the chance of breaking the heim/sphericals was real. I have snapped some. The suspension is travel limited to race tracks, so not the best on Mulholland, but have worked on a dial in set up for Turnbull Canyon,, that would have ran Mulholland nice back in the day. My father never softened it up for his street, commute, or specifically tuned to run thru at speed heading home on any of his adventures on Mulholland. So the the cars like Banning, and others on here might be quicker on that venue, but God help them if they show up against us, at a track or autocross. But then it would have been nice to see, give it a try, and maybe Guldstrand or my Father back in the day tagged a few of you, in the early evening! My Father liked the Sepulveda u-turns or just went over Laurel or Coldwater, sometimes never touching Mulholland, as many people were on all roads when commuting. He hated the freeways, as his octane booster coming out of the side pipes would give him a chemical headache, so he liked to stay moving on a road like Mulholland, only hitting a few red lights. His car is about the most period correct Socal Corvette that did this crap of any, still to this day. around. It is pretty raggity, paint not great. A movie would need pretty cars. But if you wanted something that Bannings modified non-RSR would have ran up against, it is perfect. It may be the only one still around. I took my own Corvette race cars thru Mulholland in the 1980s, but the heyday was over. It was pretty shut down. Even Van Nuys was all VWs and lowriders by about that time. A big mean nasty Thumper flared, Guldstrand full race suspension car, wasn't what you took there, as it got rare appreciation. Every one wanted slow ass Burt Reynolds Trans Ams or had switched to imports. A mid-80s Z-28 was the type of dream car that the young crowd dreamed of. Out our way on Whittier Boulevard, the crowd went thru phases with the VW, vans era, Mini-Truck era, Imports with the fart mufflers, etc.. The famous cruising Boulevards never really went back to the heydays of the Hot Rods. The Muscle cars never owned the strip, unless it was like a 427 SOHC A/FX car or something that showed up to drag race.
Hollywood wouldn't know how to pick the right cars with the right patina, or mods for a true movie, and should ask all of us if they are sincere. It would probably piss us all off, if they picked cars on their own. And then they probably would want to crash someones ride, as they have no souls!
The guys that ran the V-6 Capri's and the 240Z Datsuns where sneaky fast, so I better add that I do have respect, but as a Corvette guy I have to pretend to be sincere! The Porsches most were pretty stock (NO 935 suspensions, on any back then, like the Porsches in my Family have) running thru there. A women who could really drive her 1973 2.4L 911 T- Sunroof car was probably good competition for the majority of the hardcore Mulholland racers, but then you had the true fast cars, and those were guys that had just a little more bank. They had decent jobs, and bought Webers and Holleys!

I didn't realize there was a 10K character limit. Thus had to erase a number of the Quoted post to fit my last reply.

Dad's car in street trim (ex slalom, drag and track car), that has taken many a trip through Mulholland Drive and Turnbull Canyon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The headers burn the paint on the car, and the reason for the decals to cover it for the photo op!
http://i59.tinypic.com/28k5v86.jpg


The Skateboard movie they did, not the one with Heath Ledger would be a good type way to do a movie. If I remember right, there were testimonials. Thus I would get the guys on here like Banning, the other Derek guy that was with MIRRC, and others that were in the heyday to open up a movie talking about it, back in the day. Flash pictures of their cars, or the cars there. Each guy adds some story, rotate, and then do a group shot, where they say "And here is our story!" Now that would be cool. Are any of you guys still photogenic?

Naturally running Mulholland has been happening since guys drove cars. The sports Racing Ferraris from Hollywood Sports Cars and other such places were driving it, way before the guys on here. Probably could find some moonshine running in 34 Fords with running board stories, if we looked hard enough. I was born 1961, so I was a teenager, just with probably my learners permit newly in my hand, when I picked up the Hot Rod or Car Craft with the Cafe Racer cars. Showed Rod Simpsons 911 Chevy ride, another V-8 Porsche 914, that was badder ass than mine, but the inspiration for me getting one, prior to my Corvette obsession,and I remember a feature with Eddie Hill of Top Fuel drag racing fame, and his yellow street driven real Lola T-70 Coupe. If 914 Transmissions were stronger and I didn't end up with 5 broke ones in my garage, I might have kept my V-8 Porsche car, but got mad one night getting it towed home on a flatbed, and it got sold. I was pouring holy water on that damn thing, and it was still cured.

Mulholland was always known as a road to take a fast run, have some fun, but the story told here in the era of the mid-70s to the end in the earlier 80s is what romanticized the road. Damn! Romanticized was a good word to pick.

I heard what you guys were doing, and I wanted in. My first car not too impressive being a light blue 1975 Buick (Monza looking) Skyhawk with the worst power coming from an asthmatic 100 something HP V-6, that couldn't get out of it's own way. The only way to have a respectful showing, on my local Turnbull Canyon or anywhere else, was to go downhill, or not hit the brakes ever! It was very much like driving a Formula Super Vee car, as you really learned how to apex, to not lose momentum. And I had visions of an all out Dekon V8 Monza IMSA car out of that damn thing, looking at the Baldwin Motion catalogs in my room, and watching Al Holbert, Chris Cord and Michael Keyser in IMSA. I would be narrating my own run, and Peter Revson (me) goes into the turn tight, and passes Jackie Ickx. Luckily my Father didn't want the mess in the driveway, I would have made.

ON that GT-40 Movie coming out, I already know they are going to mess it up historically, but I just hope it is fun. My pet peeve will be if they give Carrol Shelby any of the credit for engineering, I am going to puke up my popcorn and ICEE. Or if Eric Broadley's name is not mentioned in the movie, or Remington, or Kar Kraft, or Holman Moody. The Ferrari's in 1965 just had a stronger engine than the 4.2 Indy and 4.7 (289). Ferrari called all hands on deck with the Teams (Works, Maranello, Scuderia, Belgium yellow guys, the privateers, and NART). Mr. Ford was getting really mad. If it wasn't for Shelby's Cobras and Daytonas, then it would have been truly embarrassing. Thus that group of losers, got competition within the GT-40 program, and Kar Kraft (Ford Engineering arm) was given a car, and French Ford too. To motivate Shelby, they added Holman Moody the NASCAR guys. Funny how the Shelby story of the GT-40 gives poor mention of Holman Moody, and the Holman Moody book, gives poor comments about Shelby. It is really funny. But due to those Ferrari engines, they went up to the 427. I hope the Movie covers the Ford J car (the Hot Wheel we all had), as Miles the true driving engineer and test pilot developer, who has run Mulholland many a time himself, died in that test program. It actually was fast enought to qual for LeMans, but they went the other direction. Ford wanted GT-40s in the dealerships to sell, and we had that Ralph Nader crap and road safety equipment getting required, so the GT-40 was built as a tank (heavy) against Eric Broadleys red faced reasoning. He was so mad , that he asked to be let out of his contract, so he could leave. He wanted a lightweight sophisticated car like the beautiful Lola T-70 he designed when he was free of the Corporate bullcrap. They better mention Broadley, because first they got ahold of his Lola MK6 and tried to steal the design, and were messing that up, so they had to bring him in, himself.

Good chime although I disagree on the it should be like the Van Nuys Blvd movie. Van Nuys Blvd did not have a strong plot or story line other than the nostalgia of cruising where it all began. Funny I have that movie poster in the garage. Van Nuys Blvd was a disaster in the cinema sense. BUT I can relate to Van Nuys Blvd because I was there, I cruised, I grew up at Oxnard and Fulton Streets. I got my first traffic ticket cruising Van Nuys Blvd.

King of the Mountain must have been a difficult write to turn into a visual adaptation. It was only possible by inter-weaving the supporting characters into the story otherwise all that would be left is 12 minutes of two guys racing at the wee hours of sun up because someone always wants you to prove it.

A few of us have discussed writing a script. It's difficult because there is no beginning and no end. Who is the main character, who is the target audience, what story is being conveyed? Fiction was introduced in King of the Mountain to keep it moving. Cinematic story telling usually follows the three-act (or four) structure model used in narrative that divides a story into three parts (acts), often called the Setup, the Confrontation and the Resolution. Those three critical components are murky in the real life story of Mulholland racing.


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1561921547.jpg

Continued -


Any writer would rack the brain into oblivion trying to structure it dramatically. This leaves documentary format as the only viable way to do a story about Mulholland racing.... Tell a chronological story, use shots and sequences to tell the story. Present information when it best serves the story, observational - "fly on the wall" style. Shaped and given meaning, building power and relevance. Bend the facts in service of a more "dramatic" story - and you've undermined the form and killed it. So, how does a documentary filmmaker tell a story with journalistic integrity that nonetheless strives for the dramatic power of a Hollywood feature? There are no hard and fast rules; one of the strengths of documentary filmmaking is its diversity in form and style, from diary films and direct cinema to archival histories. In seeking to merge the techniques of drama and documentary challenges represent itself during the entire storyline piecing it all together to convey the "real story".

Mulholland racing has been around as long as the road, 95 years. Incorporating all the players into narrative would be daunting, mind boggling and synapses numbing. Condensing that into an hour and a half of two hours of visual adaptation would not be possible. Elements or people would have to be whittled out. How about a mini-series 5 nights long and 10 hours? That's what it would take to tell this story.

Continued -

The Setup: The main character would have to be the road itself. How would you put a voice to asphalt? Narration. (James Earle Jones or Morgan Freeman??). Actually a female would be best. (Helena Bonham Carter as the Grand Old Dame of Mulholland) would be outstanding. An invisible presence with a voice. Ok now we have the Setup. The opening is solidly doable through perspective.


The Confrontation: Timeline would be easy for the who's who that ran cars up on the hill through the years. Simply in chronological order as they appeared in time. We know why they were there and what they were doing -racing on Mulholland. Now we have the Confrontation of man, machine and road.


The Resolution: How could that be done? The fact that everyone got old and is in bed by 9:00pm isn't going to work although from a human point of aging it could be tied in to add an element of humor. Realistically how would the resolution be completed? The missing elements.


Missing elements: Truth. Until the friends and family of some of the characters decide it's time to emerge, tell their story and fill in the blanks the story is not resolved. Without these important elements the story will never be rounded out and lacking the full-flavor it deserves. The resolution is in the human side of the story. It cannot be found elsewhere. Like a half baked cookie, it might taste ok but it would be gummy and chewy when EPIC is the expectation.

Continued-

The challenges of writing and storytelling.

On the flip side of this I understand the challenges Chris Banning had writing his book. He has been diligently revising it as a next addition. In the Mulholland Experience it is told through Chris, from a young age forward. Incorporations such as William Mulholland, his water works, the road, life on Mulholland, family history are important to Chris as was to share. The Mulholland Experience is Chris's story and people need to understand that. It's one perspective that was not just about racing. An autobiography incorporating Mulholland racing is more accurate. I give him much credit for compiling it all. From a writing and historical standpoint all of it was relevant. From an editor standpoint what do you include or leave out?



When Steve McQueen lost control of production of Le Mans to the studio over cost overruns they made him put an underlying fiction element into it. The studio thought a film about racing and cars going around a track lap after lap was pointless. The studio put women into the story. The dead racers wife/ girlfriend and the other one. The blond and the brunette added feminine emotion to the story. The women wait frozen with fear while the men race, hoping they do not die in the process and wonder why men race? It did not add or subtract from the main story. It was just an element. Steve fixed all that with the simple line that actually was not originally in the script. "Racing is life, everything else is just waiting" in the trailer scene. He also got even with the studio at the same time in that scene. That was genius. With Le Mans the perspective was reflected through the race cars first and the drivers second. That was the story! The female element did not make or break Le Mans, it was filler. It still would have become the classic it is that set the bar for every racing movie after.

Food for thought.

I haven’t read all of what you wrote, as I am heading out!

I love how you are thinking about how to best write a movie! The reference to Van Nuys was just for how that actually was, we mostly sat in parking lots, the lumber yard, or stuck in the cruise traffic, stop light after stoplight!

My cars didn’t handle idle and stoplights well, so I would be parked watching, or I would be handling the overheating! When I got the serious cars, there and Whittier Boulevard, it was all about getting into the races! Generally if you could find a match, then you got the location as to where they thought to do them! One night it was near EdPinks shop, back in the industrial center, or the 118 freeway before it was finished!

For a successful movie, you have to throw in things from the period- a scene buying the speed equipment, a scene at a gas station were someone talks to egg you on (a challenge), the girlfriends most were hungry or thirsty or demanded a real bathroom, some gals would just drop the Ditto jeans behind a bush, you have to have a living room strategy session on the coming nights plan, you have to create the rivalry between the top road racing clubs and insert them going at it in the movie.

Many of us when we did the two Boulevards—— Van Nuys and Whittier Blvd or the two road race venues Mulholland and Turnbull Canyon were in high school initially so you could create an upcoming hot shot, and the conversations going around the school, and then a story line about the guy that long ago graduated and had hero of the run status! Worked at the tuner, Andial would be fun! Maybe how he was starting a fledgling SCCA CP class campaign in Regionals.

Many of the older crowd laughed us off! I was down talking to Nardi Motors recently (ex-IMSA guys with their old Porsche shop still on Beverly Blvd.- Beverly turns into Turnbull Canyon as you are exiting the City of Whittier into the canyon and hills) and kicking stories, and he wants my course map art, or a T-shirt to frame and display! He just thought we were doing to kill ourselves, and as an adult didn't want any part of it. But now he likes the nostalga, and that level of guy being ex-IMSA racers, get honorary membership in the Society. Those guys like him were taking highly tuned customer rides for blasts, similar to Doug Hooper. For a long time, I thought the Charlie Woit legend actually might have been him. Doug Hooper! He was LAPD also prior, and ran C1 Corvettes hang the tail out style in the SoCal Regionals and Nationals. Then he became Mickey Thompson’s driver there for that Riverside victory. So having a few brushes with the legends around a story line about club verses club and a driver rivalry would be good! I better post here!

Continued

That would be a cool way to do it! Your etiquette created at Mulholland was follow the leader and then switch coming back the opposite way!

At our venue copying what you guys started and even that is subject, as even without the magazine coverage, guys and gals were up in the Canyon seeing how fast they could go! Maybe not with stopwatches, but by trying to stupidly scare their passengers!

Heck I think I had my RM 250 at the time, and I blasted Turnbull on that against a car, on a bet/dare! I could really apex that over the line, heck to beat that car, I was even using the damn dirt road shoulder! Those are the types of stories to add to the movie!

The lockup, Banning sharing of the defiant guy, and I hate to admit it, but we lifted some parts and tires from the rich daddy kids, as we never had enough money! We used to lite dumpster fires to destruct the cops away for racing!

On Turnbull we did a show of technical inspecting new guys cars, call it intimidation. As I think that was what we were doing, us less I hear differently! But it was a little bit too about true safety! We did that from my Fathers slalom racing with the Sic Sic organization (SCCSCC). This was the yearly big championship series ran at the big venues (Dodger Stadium lot, Terminal Island, RIR raceway, Ontario Motor Speedway infield, College lot, etc etc. The championship was actually mid-season at Santa Maria Airport, North (NCSCC) against the South (invitation only based on standings), but we copied the tech inspect they did! As a kid, I stood there watching my Dad’s car get checked! So we incorporated it into what we did!

We even were bull****ting about road conditions, laying down rubber (that actually was a good thing), and we swept our course turns with brooms! We would send off the cars one at a time as I shared in my earlier posting slowest to feature cars. We generally had an idea of who was faster!

Heck for the Mulholland movie, you have the clubs meet in an Alpha Beta Supermarket lot and pair the races between the two rival clubs, while the girlfriends talk the trash!

Our girls back in the day, most had car Father’s and some had better cars bought for them than us! My girlfriends father actually gave me his car to take out his daughter, as he wanted my death trap 1967 Camaro watched in his driveway, till her safe return prior to curfew! Then she would have to climb out the window and go around the block so I could get her, to not miss going back up there! She could trash talk with the best of them! Oh your metal flake is so sparkly, or how much time does the fancy pinstriping get you! The stories you guys have, should be countless!

Continue!

My word romanticized was perfect! To capture the soul of the activity is crucial! Got to built up to the big one minute and change battle! As Mulholland was that short!

I would have a daytime scene heading to the speed shop let’s say over on Thunder Valley to Guldstrands/Traco were the driver and passenger are just talking, seeming to not even pay attention but when driving cars like my Dad’s or Banning’s Porsche the MIRRC Camaro, those can take traffic, go around so nonchalantly that it can be scary to the observer. So two guys just driving to buy equipment ripping around the commuters in a flow at like 7/10th speed would be a nice touch! You could do the beach run, and have the hero pour his heart out to his squeeze about the big match, how he could die, scared but just to get laid or maybe real (none of us thought that we would die)! Heck I have done Decker of Topanga and others many a time just to keep the skills practiced (mostly in my crotch rocket days)! Pop out on PCH!

You can do a stoplight stare down of a rich Guido in a Lambo and have the RSR clone waste his noodle eating ass!
The script is endless, but I want it to have the mood, the ambiance of the times!

The damn marine layer and fog could be a problem and mess up things! I have kittie cat LeMans Marchals/Cibie H4 bulbs in the Corvette and our Porsche’s! I hate when those reflected back at you when it was just soupy! At night we stepped up to that expense (I think I traded some rich kids new Z-28 rims and tires for cash to get those! But we at night were out running our damn headlights, so out came the night to day converters! I have like 150W bulbs and added relays to not melt down the wire harness. We angled them into the apexes too!

Heck you can pit the old good kids against the evil kids, and kill of my type in a fiery crash! You could have a scene like a surfboard ring send off, where a racer friend was killed (car went to the bottom of the canyon), where the club hikes down in the dark (girls in the stupid platform shoes of the day complaining, hair like Farrah Fawett), and they light candles to the remnants of the trashed Mercury Capri of their lost friend. Walking back out, a Western Diamond back almost tags someone! Heck the sky is the limit. It should have some campy moments!

Heck again, Farrah had her Corvette too, that she drove down Mulholland. There is another one for the history! The green graphic 70s Corvette. One of the model manufacturers, replicated a 1/25 scale plastic kit of it, to assembly with glue.

On this thread, I do not want to come across as dominating a venue that I was only an occasional tourist! I am interjecting stories or kind of how it was to simulate the idea! Heck I love good car movies, as they are generally so poorly done! Hopefully some of the commentary of how I remember like the girls friends, parts runs becoming an adventure, the school trash talk, etc from my days, brings it out of you local guys!

I don’t want to highjack this super Mulholland history with other locations! I assume you guys ventured up like me to Van Nuys! I would say, many contests probably got arranged down the hill! I ran into that V-8 Scarab group in the Porsche that one evening! Older guys suckering a kid, they must have been bored! They probably thought I was one of you guys, and they were going to get their Datsun product some exposure. I am surprised they didn’t offer me candy! They were staring at my girlfriends tits in her halter top!

Maybe the Hollywood hills and the movie crowd culture is causing you guys to overthink things! You guys are trying too hard to structure a growing up story into a blockbuster hit! The setup, interlude what???? Just write the damn thing!

PS I have that poster too! I have a few others, so those would have to be backdrop props in the guys bedroom! Please don’t let Hollywood show Countach posters, unless it has like a hot girl on it!

Any movie would be better than the newest movie about Bob Dylan. The road itself as the main character is genius and it's the only real constant. One way to look at a script is to base it on one 24 hour day. As the story unwinds, previous facts, elements, people, incidents can be introduced. Seems like plots with flashbacks have been in vogue for a while now, but nothing new, for sure.

Maybe that 24 hours could be 3 different periods. What happened in the 60's, 70's or 80's and later on than that. Similarities involving the various landmarks get woven together. I am not a writer, far from it. I can only think that writers have a real tough time deciding on the structure before bringing the meat to the table.

I'm sure some time spent in the archives of the Los Angeles Herald Examiner and the L.A. Times would root out some reporting of incidents to place time. I think somewhere here it has been mentioned recently about car mags that told some of the story. And I'm sure some of the players are still around. I do believe Rex Ramsey is in NoCal.

I drove Mulholland the other day, and it would be fairly difficult at speed(if there weren't a 40 mph limit), but Topanga Canyon would be more demanding.Nevertheless there are hundreds of twisty roads in Europe far better drives at speed.And in my opinion in California, 89 and 395 offered far better early morning drives

We all know the incidents! I personally would rather not be known for being there, the night someone actually died! Rex Ramsey has some cars, there is a thought by my, that his 1967 car might be one of the lost L88 cars (1 of 20). Him and Doug Hooper mixed it up! Guldstrands real last racing was like 1970 winning a South American racing thing, to sell cars/product internationally! He basically has zero Trans Am (SCCA) or IMSA in his record! He re-emerges driving for that Willow Springs 24 endurance thing, that led to that craze! Doug was our friend too, and he continued to race SCCA with the Doug Service sponsored roadster. He drove it and another enthusiast entered it! I have the records on Rex Ramsey and he was formal track racing by 1966, and continued on qualifying and attending the National Runoffs! He had a hot Street Vette I have heard, if I am not confusing him with someone else! I have never heard of him taking the Road Race Corvette very finials to mine (flared) up there! But he would have been the type to do it! If he did, our type cars are just pure race cars! Nothing street about them! I have pictures of his cars!!!!!!! Totally illegal, but I will check those pictures for license plates! My car being an ex-David Cormany BP car 69/70 and the a resurrected crashed ride by him, bought by the Cavalier Corvette snowplow spoiler group of Robert Mathis, Bob Snow, and others who ran the last of the C2 cars in SCCA up till 1983 (production framed Corvette racers still competing into the GT-1 rules and tube framed days). We are talking serious cars now! In other words, my one car raced his car (different class), and the other car I have ran autocross and I think he did a little of that. He sold one car at the 1970 Daytona ARRC. Rex Was National Championship seeking! I know he must have ran stuff down Mulholland, it would be nice to confirm that, as I am a closet Historian type!

This is far from a discussion about great roads. What made Mulholland what it was is the fact that it was close to where folks gathered in their cars. You could leave the city where you might be hanging out at a drive in restaurant, etc and be on the course in 15 minutes.

Yeah, I know some really great roads right here in SoCal and most of them are aways from the city. Turnbull is fairly close to Whittier and Glendora is about 20 minutes out of Azuza. But the San Fernando Valley was/is the hot bed of car culture and Mulholland was very handy.

I like 58 out of Bakersfield to Santa Margarita I think I have the city right! But 395 is not good, especially the humps, 89 out of Ojai is fast. Topanga only has the populated area out of Canoga Park uphill as interesting and the little section thru the little village, others than those, you are just driving fast! There is a special formula that makes a section magic! I was upset that a group of tuner jap car guys wrote a bad review of touring Turnbull! Dudes, it isn’t a touring road, it is all about the 2.1 mile Raceway section! If you want to wear out your polyurethane, I can draw you a map so you can go tour, and end it off a cliff!

The beauty of these little road sections getting the fame is actually the slower speed technical! On Turnbull only a few stretches to get up over 100 on Mulsanne and Pit Road, if you don’t hit a hiker or bicyclist these days. Mulholland was undulating snakey type road! It weaving in and out of the mountain contour! The passes of canyon sections are like where Coldwater or Other intersects it! Or heading east or west! In the race course itself, I prefer and can go way faster west to east! I can hang out on the opposite side of the road, and dive in to apex inside on coming traffic! Going the other way is just pure blind! The blind direction is the famed run direction! I personally would have reversed it, as give the lead in the direction that was most blind, and lead where you know how far you can hang out, and still dive back across! Most here could get to 70 mph averages on that road in a 1600cc VW!

True! We used our local proximity to where we lived spots! Plus I was close enough to home to go get some autocross or track tires on, if needed. I assume the Mulholland crowd went down to Van Nuys, but the Van Nuys crowd generally wasn’t into Mulholland! The same for Whittier, the hot rodders and muscle car knew us, what we were doing, but seldom did we get a boulevard cruiser up in the canyon, unless looking for a spot to neck! Now one time we were down shooting our mouths off, and a guy in a 23 T-bucket had just enough bravery beer in him that we got challenged. You know that damn car was so lightweight and fast, that he could lose time in the turns as it was so fast in a straight line, but it even wasn’t bad handling either! He had a link rear end, and coil overs on the front, wider than normal front tires, as he drove it everywhere! I wasn’t the one in our group that got his goat, but he got up our hill pretty damn respectfully fast! He was into ego, so we stroked it a little and made him the hero of the evening, and he finally left! The guy used to display his ticket collection on a board down on the Boulevard!

When I got my license, we were living in Hacienda Heights. When I went into the military, my family was still there for awhile, but then moved out to the mouth of Carbon Canyon. Then after a few years when I was discharged, they were in Yorba Linda. But we still went to the hang out spots. I was down stationed in San Diego after returning from Navy schools 1979/80, I went up north to Mare Island for continuation school (specialty rating) and had the V-8 Porsche, then was down stationed in San Diego, and then the ship went into the Long Beach Naval Shipyards about 1982, and then back to San Diego coming up on weekends. I sold the Porsche for the Corvette Race car in 1982. My father was commuting from those houses to Los Angeles, then Marina Del Rey (him and Guldstrand were bonding a lot during this period, as Marina Del Rey is close to Guldstrands shop in Culver City (I really was buying a lot of speed equipment from 1982 onward, then he went to work in the Valley up in Sunland close to the car yards. He divorced and moved up to the Valley there for awhile, commuting from Marina Del Rey for awhile.