<VV> no corvair, just weird

[Bill H.]

                                     B"H

I know we're off topic here, but I just saw the movie
for the first time last week!  Some interesting stuff:

1.  In the movie, Christine was really a 58 Belvedere,
not a Fury.  Furys were only available in one color,
Buckskin Beige.  The movie leads you to believe that
Christine was probably a special order car.  If I
remember correctly, her side trim was silver not gold.
 Also there was no "Fury" script on her fins, as was
the case with the real car.

2.  A number of Belveders, Savoys, and Plazas were
used to film the movie.  Many of the body parts were
contructed in rubber for the special effects.

3.  MoPar fans were quite upset at the destruction of
some vintage Plymouths, although at least one restored
car was built from the leftovers after filming was
concluded.  It is in the hands of a private collector.

4.  No mention of either the name Plymouth or Fury
were made in the movie.  I guess King and Carpenter
assumed everyone knew Christine was a 58 Fury.  The
jacket of the videotape does state this, however.

5.  The Stephen King book describes Christine as a
4-door Fury with "Hydramatic."  Furys were only
hardtop coupes in 58, and the auto tranny was
TorqueFlite.  Starting in 59, the Fury became a series
name instead of a special order car (like the Impala)
and included a variety of body styles.

6.  The blackout windows which appeared in the movie
(when Christine was in her "evil mode" made it
difficult for the stunt drivers to see where they were
going, only a small portion of the windshield could be
used for outside vision!  Today, with computer
graphics, they could probably use clear windows when
filming and then black them out with computer-based
editing.

I didn't find the movie that creepy or scary, since as
we all know, every car has a "personality" anyway and
some are indeed nastier than others!...Bill H.


>
>How  could you NOT love something with those lines,
and fins like
>that?   And the gold anodized trim down the sides...?
   Wonderful  
car...
>
>tony..
>
>
>
>
>
>No to mention that they can take a tremendous
beating, broken glass  
and
>dented fenders and magically heal themselves
overnight. Just don't 
>get  locked
>inside one and don't piss them off!  B-B-B-B-Bad - 
Seth



Now, that one was a '58.   The car discussed here is a
'57.   Similar 
body but different trim, AND different...  '58 was the
first year for 
the B-engine in the Mopar camp.   For those not
familiar with 
Mopar-speak, the '58 B-engine was the father of all
the best of the 
bunch of bigblock Mopar powerplants, ranging in
displacements from 
350ci up to 440ci.   The 426 Hemi is a B-engine,
actually an RB... 
with .4" taller deck height, as in "Raised-B".   This
helped keep an 
excellent rod-stroke ratio for the big displacement
engines like the 
413, 426, 440 with the 3.75" stroke.

Odd... that the Mopar 440 Magnum bigblock engine has a
better 
rod-stroke ratio than the 164" 'Vair engine.   They
can be stroked 
almost an inch in stock form and still have a decent
rod-stroke 
ratio... which is how there came to be 550 ci Mopar
bigblock 
torquemonsters running the streets.

By the way, that Red '58 Plymouth was fitted with the
optional 2x4bbl 
Golden Commando 350ci B engine (1958-only) which made
~320 hp, which 
in '58 was top shelf power.

And, the cars had fins...  real fins.    Real to the
point that when 
someone got around to doing wind tunnel tests on the
cars it was 
found that at highway speeds (and beyond) the fins
actually added to 
the stability of the car.

Just don't let your smokes flick any ashes on the
seat.




 
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