Car buffs please
What kind of car does Jason Robards drive?
It looks a little like a VW Beetle, but not quite.
Anyone got a guess?
"Save me Jebus!", Homer Simpson
Nash Metropolitan I think
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MovieChat Forums > Divorce American Style (1967) Discussion > Car buffs please
Definitely not a Nash Metropolitan. They were downright sleek and modern compared to the Jason Robard character's car. I know I've seen the car he drives before but I can't quite positively ID the make. It looks similar to a Bantam or Crossley, but even they would be too old to be likely.
shareIt's a Morris Minor (probably either 1000 or Series II). The horizontal slat grille indicates, I think, that it was a '54, '55 or '56 model.
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I can't believe no one except the last guy pegged it as a Morris Minor...I still see those around now and then.
shareI happened to be there the day they were shooting that scene in the parking lot behind Matador Bowl (a neighborhood hangout a couple blocks from where I lived), when Morris Minors were still a pretty common sight on the roads, so the car was instantly recognizable and didn't seem at all unusual, exotic or obscure, either at the time or upon repeated viewings of the film over following years.
I do recall paying much more attention to the Van Dyke character's sleek new Riviera on that day. Loved those.
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There were a lot more import brands in that era than today, because it was before DOT and EPA rules cut out the margins of price-competitive imports. Though the rules were admirable in themselves, some called them a sneaky form of protectionism.
shareMore then than today? I don't imagine I'd have guessed that. I do recall there were a number - Morris among them - one doesn't see around today, from Austin Healys and Triumphs to more obscure ones like Isetta and Borgward (my family had one of those around '59-'60). Fiats, Renaults and Citroens seemed more ubiquitous back then too. "Course today, I can barely tell one brand from another, domestic or import.
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Van Dyke's VW was supposed to be an old junker he was driving because he had lost all his money in the divorce settlement, but it had the larger tail lights introduced in '64, which would have made it no more than three years old.
shareGood job, eagle-eye! Not something I noticed, nor would have under any circumstances.
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