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Where better to hold a Hollywood car show than at a real Hollywood studio?
The Television Motion Picture Car Club’s sixth annual Fourth of July car show at CBS Studio Center is half Hollywood, half local car show and half fireworks. If that’s three halves that’s only because it’s about 50 percent more fun than your typical hot-rod and muscle-car hoedown.
The TMPCC show is held in conjunction with Studio City’s Fourth of July Fireworks Festival, an event that includes live music by Deana Carter, magic shows, strolling pirates, model airplanes, cool cars and, just before it all ends, fireworks.
But let’s talk about the cars.
Chuck Wood’s 1952 jaguar xk120 won best of show.< p
The club started out with just TV and movie industry people who liked cars. Some of them had cars that had been in movies or TV shows, but a lot of them just liked cool things with wheels. The club has recently expanded to include members from the music, radio, sports and motorsports industries, too. Their biggest event is this one, where they take over the parking spaces of big time studio execs at CBS.
Most of the actual movie cars on hand were brought by agencies that supply them to the industry. The Picture Car Warehouse brought the Gladius Jet Bike from the 2011 movie "Priest." Bob Ratinoff, owner of Classic Auto Rental Service brought a 1965 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III that has been seen on various screens. And Phil Fiori, owner of Next! Pictures, brought a number of cars and replicas of cars from movies.
“I’m like an agent for cars in movies and television,” said Fiori. “I represent 5,000 or so cars.”
It’s probably more than that, he clarified.
“If a director is looking for something for a movie, or the transportation guy on a movie crew is looking for something, I can work with them to get what they want,” he said. “Or I’ll look at a script and break it down into which cars they’ll need.”
Tom Leonard’s 1947 Triumph roadster is one of the cars Fiori works with. It was in the movie "Gangster Squad" and in the Hollywood Christmas Parade.
“Emma Stone was supposed to drive this car,” Leonard said.
But alas, as often happens in Hollywood, she drove off in another one. Her loss. The Triumph is in flawless shape, from the engine all the way back to the rumble seat in the rear. With a tube frame and an aluminum body, it weighs just 2,500 pounds, Leonard said. Sounds like a sporty sports car.
Ken Greenbough is a grip in the TV and movie industry, but he loves cars. He rebuilt his 1970 Nova over four and a half years and made it into a real drag racer. It’s been in a lot of commercials and videos, most recently a Snoop Dogg video where the car drag raced in the cement-lined LA River.
“You could see it onscreen for about two seconds,” Greenbough said. Enough for glory, and a paycheck.
There was a replica of the 1963 Galaxie police car driven by Sheriff Taylor in "The Andy Griffith Show." This one was owned by retired sheriff (a real sheriff) Matt Pocklington. It had most recently been in a show called "Vegas," Fiori said.
Chuck Wood’s 1952 XK120 has been on a number of TV shows, most recently one called "Bones." It had a light green paint that we swear we’ve seen on a Zagato-bodied Aston Martin somewhere. Woods pulled an Autoweek from the door pocket of the car and showed us a photo of Stirling Moss driving a C-Type with the same paint. He’s had five other Jags in his time, he said. “I just dig it!”
Rick Dore built the Black Pearl for Metallica frontman James Hetfield.
Victor Koontz’ 1960 Buick Electra has not been in any movies (“Not yet,” he said), but his light metallic blue Thunderbird has been in a lot of commercials.
Drag racer - and former television and motion picture transportation coordinator - Steve Bonner is now the owner of the 1971 Husqvarna ridden by Steve McQueen on the cover of Sports Illustrated. He brought it to display with the Fiori cars.
“It’s one of the few he (McQueen) had that’s still in one piece,” said Bonner. “It’s the Holy Grail of his bikes.”
Bonner rode it in Baja back in the day.
“It’s a 120-mph bike,” he said. “This revolutionized motorcycling.”
We heard a great number of drag-racing stories from Bonner and asked why he didn’t write a book about it all.
“Because I don’t want to go to jail!” he said. They were really good stories, but we don’t want to him to go to jail, either.
The General Lee, the real General Lee, was supposed to make a showing this year as it has in past years but was pulled by Warner Bros., according to TMPCC, for reasons surrounding the Confederate flag on its roof.
There were 65 cars this year, most of which were not from the movies but were owned and loved by people working in various entertainment industries.
Best of Show this year went to Wood’s Jaguar, an excellent choice we say, and not just because he had an Autoweek in the door pocket. The President’s Award, chosen by Latke and studio president Mike Klausman, went to Metallica frontman James Hetfield’s Black Pearl. It was built by customizer Rick Dore. Dore, who has been to a show or two in his time, liked the TMPCC affair.
“This is great,” he said. “It’s not as crowded as some other shows, it’s family oriented, great food, the cars are great and the people are greater. It’s cool.”
It’ll happen again next Fourth of July, so start planning now.
