thewheelman Posted September 21, 2010 Report Share Posted September 21, 2010 Indulging in one of my guilty pleasures today.....it's a slow day at the office and I've put on the 1966 movie Grand Prix....one of the advantages of owning your own business, I guess. Fantastic movie--Frankenheimer mounted cameras on a GT 40 to film at speed. Pete Aron (James Garner) shows up driving what appears to be a GT-350H. Couldn't have an all American boy like him tooling around Europe in anything else! Formula 1 before all the wings and spats and 6 wheels.......it's a hoot to watch, skinny tires and minimal driver protection--wow, no wonder so many drivers were killed in those days. It has aged well and is still a thrill to watch. Frankenheimer took pains to make it as authentic as possible. Garner did all his own driving and held his own with the pros in the in-between-shots impromptu races they staged. BTW, does anybody know--is this the first appearance of a Shelby Mustang on screen? I know there were some Cobras in the race scenes of Viva Las Vegas (as well as a lot of other cool sports cars of the day), but I don't recall any other Shelby's on screen before this....... If I'm not mistaken, Thuderball (also featuring Adolfo Celi) was the first appearance of a Mustang on screen. Isn't there a movie car database somewhere? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbackg Posted September 21, 2010 Report Share Posted September 21, 2010 Great movie. Even though it is not BluRay - the picture was amazing on my BlueRay player on my 60" HD TV. If the opening scene doesn't get your blood moving ... you must be dead. I don't know if there is a better opening? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060472/ Movie release date December 21, 1966 It would have be very unlikely to have a Shelby mustang appear prior to this. Good question. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Son of GT Posted September 21, 2010 Report Share Posted September 21, 2010 Did you know that a GT350 has a cameo in Bullitt? Yup, there is one scene where Lt. Bullitt crosses the street in front of his apartment, and low and behold, parked (actually, if I remember correctly, it's pulling away from the curb) behind him on the street is a GT350. If you blink during that scene you would miss it, but it's there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank S Posted September 21, 2010 Report Share Posted September 21, 2010 Great movie. Even though it is not BluRay - the picture was amazing on my BlueRay player on my 60" HD TV. If the opening scene doesn't get your blood moving ... you must be dead. I don't know if there is a better opening? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060472/ Movie release date December 21, 1966 It would have be very unlikely to have a Shelby mustang appear prior to this. Good question. Link to International Movie Car Database Check out Redline 7000 (1965) You want to know about Grand Prix? More info and trivia than you can digest in a week: Grand Prix thread on The Nostalgia Forum Somewhere in there is a link to my album of pictures of the Riverside Raceway "shakedown" episode where they developed the camera mounts and techniques: Grand Prix shakedown Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.