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Your ideas for a great movie?


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#51 D28

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Posted 28 November 2019 - 17:39

+1 for Gilles, but it can't be called Viva.  No no no.

In addition to the project in post 43 above, there was another film attempt in 2005 by Christian Duguay.

This was tentatively  called   Villeneuve and did not make production for lack of funding. So a number of producers are interested in the story.



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#52 ensign14

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Posted 28 November 2019 - 19:22

Retread Rookie: The Eddie Sachs Story.

 

The real problem with motor racing - same with most sports - is fact outruns fiction.  Who could treat seriously a script where someone wins the world title with an overtake on the very last corner of the very last race?  Grand Prix was not as tense.

 

So a film about Graham Hill's life would pale compared to a straight documentary...



#53 D-Type

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Posted 29 November 2019 - 22:13

There have been a couple of mentions of the Caracciola, Chiron and Babe (was that her name?)story.  You could bring in the death of Caracciola's first wife in an avalanche, the Caracciola, Chiron & Babe triangle, Helle-Nice.
The advantage is that there are conflicting stories in thepublic domain so you could "Hollywood-ize" the story (or stories) with impunity.



#54 LittleChris

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Posted 29 November 2019 - 22:49

Berndt & Ellie. 



#55 Bloggsworth

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Posted 30 November 2019 - 00:01

...or a film about Nuvolari.  :cool:

 

 No-one would believe it.



#56 Dave Ware

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Posted 30 November 2019 - 00:06

Speaking for myself, I'd love to see "The Jo Siffert Story."  Starting from his youth until the end.  I have a lot of affection for those few who started with nothing and pulled themselves to the top. 

 

The film could open with a young Jo Siffert leaning over the front seat of his Dad's car, watching his Dad drive and shift gears, then cut to an older Jo driving for the first time and matching the revs perfectly on the non-synchromesh gearbox because he had memorized the sound of the engine from his Dad's driving and knew what revs to use for each gear change. 

 

(No, of course I wasn't there; it's in his book.  Edit:  the Jaques Deschenaux book, just to be clear...)

 

But this wouldn't be a blockbuster, which the OP had asked for.  Well, maybe in Switzerland.  And at TNF. 


Edited by Dave Ware, 30 November 2019 - 01:41.


#57 Vitesse2

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Posted 30 November 2019 - 00:16

Berndt & Ellie. 

There was a German TV movie a few years back. I think I have a copy of it somewhere.



#58 LittleChris

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Posted 30 November 2019 - 00:52

Is it worth checking YouTube ?    ;)



#59 LittleChris

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Posted 30 November 2019 - 00:57

Speaking for myself, I'd love to see "The Jo Siffert Story."  Starting from his youth until the end.  I have a lot of affection for those few who started with nothing and pulled themselves to the top. 

 

The film could open with a young Jo Siffert leaning over the front seat of his Dad's car, watching his Dad drive and shift gears, then cut to an older Jo driving for the first time and matching the revs perfectly on the non-synchromesh gearbox because he had memorized the sound of the engine from his Dad's driving and knew what revs to use for each gear change. 

 

(No, of course I wasn't there; it's in his book.)

 

But this wouldn't be a blockbuster, which the OP had asked for.  Well, maybe in Switzerland.  And at TNF. 

 

Dave, are you aware of " Live Fast Die Young- The Jo Siffert Story" ? DVD released in 2005



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#60 as65p

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Posted 30 November 2019 - 01:00

I'm totally convinced, having seen all the classics, there's no way to make a really good racing movie. The racing scenes never come anywhere close to the real thing, never. I hold "Grand Prix" dear, but that's mainly because I watched it when I was about 12 and hadn't seen any real racing up to that point, i.e. it's mainly nostalgia.

 

Now there's a thought... maybe a really brilliant script and a really brilliant director and really brilliant actors, and for the racing scenes only use genuine footage... that might work. But as long as they insist on stageing the actual racing scenes, no way.



#61 Tim Murray

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Posted 30 November 2019 - 04:31

There was a German TV movie a few years back. I think I have a copy of it somewhere.

Is it worth checking YouTube ?  ;)


The film was called Alleinflug and came out in 2014. The full film doesn’t seem to be up on YouTube, but there are four copies currently still available on Amazon UK:

https://www.amazon.c...n/dp/B00IA01EKM

although when we discussed the film (see this and subsequent posts in the Elly Rosemeyer thread) the TNF review panel rated it as a resounding flop. :well:

#62 Pullman99

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Posted 30 November 2019 - 11:20

Louis Vorow Zborowski and the true story of Chitty Bang Bang!



#63 Henri Greuter

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Posted 30 November 2019 - 13:39

Retread Rookie: The Eddie Sachs Story.

 

 

Some moments of pure comedy assured if the truth is followed closely and faithfully.

And if so, no much need for "hollywooding" the script too much.



#64 Vitesse2

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Posted 30 November 2019 - 13:53

The World's Fastest Fur Broker: the John Cobb Story.



#65 rl1856

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Posted 01 December 2019 - 04:13

Bentley Boys- featuring Bazillionare Diamond Magnate Woolf Barnato and all the rest winning LeMans during the '20s while driving the world's fastest lorries.  

 

Entore Bugatti would be the villain.  

 

Written by Julian Fellows and given a Downton Abbey level of aesthetic detail.  Lots of champagne parties and Jazz bands.  Several scenes at Brooklands, featuring the principals mingling with the Ox-Bridge crowd, and various members of the Aristocracy.   

 

US audiences would be enthralled.

 

------

 

Seriously

 

With WW-I featuring heavily in several recent and current movies- I suggest the French GP of 1914 and the all conquering Mercedes team as precursor to WW-I.  

 

Something on the Carerra Panamerica featuring a rag tag bunch of Mexican and California based hot rodders taking on the best that Europe could send over.

 

The Hesketh Story- directed by Monty Python alumni.  



#66 rl1856

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Posted 01 December 2019 - 04:34

'Mon Ami Mate'. Almost impossible to recreate the racing scenes with conviction - but there wouldn't be a dry eye in the house.

 

"Ferrari- Race To Immortality" is worth seeking out.  

 

It covers Ferrari history from roughly 1955-1959, and covers much of the Mon Ami Mate story.  LOTS of correct period footage in sparkling clear Technicolor stock !  It is visually spectacular.  There is commentary both from period interviews, and from period survivors, to provide background and continuity for the story.



#67 Bikr7549

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Posted 01 December 2019 - 05:09

 

Seriously

 

With WW-I featuring heavily in several recent and current movies- I suggest the French GP of 1914 and the all conquering Mercedes team as precursor to WW-I.  

 

Something on the Carerra Panamerica featuring a rag tag bunch of Mexican and California based hot rodders taking on the best that Europe could send over.

 

The Hesketh Story- directed by Monty Python alumni.  

 

These would all be very interesting films!


Edited by Bikr7549, 01 December 2019 - 05:10.


#68 Charlieman

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Posted 01 December 2019 - 11:33

Bentley Boys- featuring Bazillionare Diamond Magnate Woolf Barnato and all the rest winning LeMans during the '20s while driving the world's fastest lorries.  

 

Entore Bugatti would be the villain.  

 

Written by Julian Fellows and given a Downton Abbey level of aesthetic detail.  Lots of champagne parties and Jazz bands.  Several scenes at Brooklands, featuring the principals mingling with the Ox-Bridge crowd, and various members of the Aristocracy.   

There are rarely significant parts for female actors in motor racing but the Dorothy Paget role would be fun in Bentley Boys. And it wouldn't be too hard to find replica Bentleys for the racing scenes  :) .



#69 mariner

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Posted 01 December 2019 - 12:34

I have often thought that De Portago's life  would make a great movie. Not just the racing but his whole background and style.. 

 

We love alt the track stuf but it is expensive to stage and of limited general interest. However De Portago is a great lifestyle story even in these me - too times. 

 

Of course the end is trasgic but Ford vs Ferarri seems to have put that issue to bed .



#70 john aston

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Posted 03 December 2019 - 07:48

My concept ? A film entitled 'Not so grim up north ' starring Chris Meek and Tony Lanfranchi, with a sub plot involving Can Am victor and cigar smuggler Tony Dean

 

Rufforth would be recreated easily enough by any old airfield and an old  tent, Croft ditto but with an old bus .

 

Lights , camera , and ..... Action!.   



#71 absinthedude

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Posted 03 December 2019 - 08:35

Was there not an attempt to make a film of "Mon Ami Mate" in the early 90s, with Stirling Moss playing himself?



#72 john winfield

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Posted 03 December 2019 - 10:20

'How I met your Father'.

 

Pat Moss, on horseback alongside little daughter Suzie in the 1970s, reflects on Erik, cars, horses and two lives well-lived. Cue authentic footage of a red Healey 3000 and a raucous Saab 96.



#73 john winfield

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Posted 03 December 2019 - 10:28

My concept ? A film entitled 'Not so grim up north ' starring Chris Meek and Tony Lanfranchi, with a sub plot involving Can Am victor and cigar smuggler Tony Dean

 

Rufforth would be recreated easily enough by any old airfield and an old  tent, Croft ditto but with an old bus .

 

Lights , camera , and ..... Action!.   

 

Two tickets please.

 

(with a bit part for Johnny Blades and his Crusader... Clan, northern flair and ingenuity, ultimately destroyed by decisions made in uncaring Westminster and the soft south....)

 

In black & white*, direction by Karel Reisz or Tony Richardson.

 

* (except for Lanfranchi's helmet)


Edited by john winfield, 03 December 2019 - 10:36.


#74 john aston

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Posted 03 December 2019 - 17:04

I loved his Clan so much I bought one a few years later  ;)



#75 Glengavel

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Posted 03 December 2019 - 17:14

How about a film based on 'Climax in Coventry' - with careful promotion, it should do well, at least until word of mouth gets round...



#76 john winfield

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Posted 03 December 2019 - 18:26

I loved his Clan so much I bought one a few years later  ;)

 

Lovely cars.  I've just been communicating with a Clan owner who is trying to identify the seller of a Crusader in a Motor Sport small ad, March 1973 issue.  Sadly the registration is not legible.  Welwyn Garden City phone number. 

 

Perhaps this forensic search could be made into a gripping film.



#77 Valiant273

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Posted 03 December 2019 - 18:50

Michelle Mouton story would be the one most likely to be considered a block buster.
A women in the lead role dealing with all the usual obstacles plus male chauvinism has Oscar winning potential.
The climax could be winning Pikes Peak and saying to Bobby Unser that they could race down the hill IF he had the balls.

T

#78 Jim Thurman

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Posted 03 December 2019 - 19:28

 

The film could open with a young Jo Siffert leaning over the front seat of his Dad's car, watching his Dad drive and shift gears, then cut to an older Jo driving for the first time and matching the revs perfectly on the non-synchromesh gearbox because he had memorized the sound of the engine from his Dad's driving and knew what revs to use for each gear change. 

 

 

Michelle Mouton story would be the one most likely to be considered a block buster.
A women in the lead role dealing with all the usual obstacles plus male chauvinism has Oscar winning potential.
The climax could be winning Pikes Peak and saying to Bobby Unser that they could race down the hill IF he had the balls.

 

"Heart Like A Wheel", based on the life and career of top fuel drag racer Shirley Muldowney was along those lines, and had a scene remarkably similar to the one described in the post on Jo Siffert.



#79 E1pix

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Posted 03 December 2019 - 20:03

+1 for Gilles, but it can't be called Viva.  No no no.

Oh Yes it can, it's my damned movie.  :lol:



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#80 E1pix

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Posted 03 December 2019 - 20:05

"Heart Like A Wheel", based on the life and career of top fuel drag racer Shirley Muldowney was along those lines, and had a scene remarkably similar to the one described in the post on Jo Siffert.

I truly enjoyed that film — and suspect Connie Kalitta didn't.



#81 BRG

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Posted 03 December 2019 - 20:34

Michelle Mouton story would be the one most likely to be considered a block buster.
A women in the lead role dealing with all the usual obstacles plus male chauvinism has Oscar winning potential.
The climax could be winning Pikes Peak and saying to Bobby Unser that they could race down the hill IF he had the balls.

That would be the Hollywood-ised version of her story. 

 

Actually, she was supported by her family for her first season and after that proceeded to get better and better drives by her talent alone.  Very little chauvinism, as the rally world has long been accustomed to female competitors, which is probably why she has been notably lukewarm about the W Series.  The true story wouldn't make such a good screenplay though so let's make up some fake news.



#82 E1pix

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Posted 03 December 2019 - 21:13

The true story wouldn't make such a good screenplay though so let's make up some fake news.

British drivers rule.   ;)  :smoking:   ;)



#83 Roger Clark

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Posted 05 December 2019 - 12:01

I think a film about Tripoli 1933 could be perfect Hollywood material.



#84 sabrejet

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Posted 05 December 2019 - 16:20

British drivers rule.   ;)  :smoking:   ;)

 

So says someone who knows the difference between chauvinism and male chauvinism.

 

:clap:  :clap:  :clap:



#85 E1pix

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Posted 05 December 2019 - 19:10

That's not fair, using my joke to your benefit. (LOL)

#86 Dave Ware

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Posted 06 December 2019 - 01:50

Dave, are you aware of " Live Fast Die Young- The Jo Siffert Story" ? DVD released in 2005

Ah ha, no I wasn't.  I see it's on Amazon...Christmas is coming.  Thanks!



#87 Terry Walker

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Posted 08 December 2019 - 08:46

The one I'm thinking of has been made into many cheap movies with back projection and speeded up cars: young bloke or struggling small outfit produces car they know is going to be winner, and gosh! it does!

 

Cue real life: years later along comes Black Jack from Down Under, builds home made special (well near enough), wins World Championship...  Better than the movies.



#88 moffspeed

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Posted 08 December 2019 - 13:29

"1965 and all that".  

 

A film concentrating on Jim Clark's epic 1965 season with suitable flash-backs to Duns and his farming activities, early days with the Porsche and then Lotus, Von Trips & Monza, driving an Aston at Le Mans, an ERA at Rouen etc. The women in his life, Jaby, his famed indecisiveness outside a race car. The film centres on '65 but then fast forwards over the final 15 minutes to his Lotus Cortina outing on the 1966 RAC rally, the arrival of GLTL and Graham Hill etc. The story ends on the grid at Hockenheim and spares us the grisly accident.  The film is book-ended by reminiscences from JYS sat in Jimmy's old Elan before the final frames - that evocative video shot at Watkins Glen (?) with Clark jacketed for the cold slowly turning and walking into the mist.

 

Not a dry eye in the house. Incidentally Josh O'Connor (currently Prince Charles in The Crown") would make a perfect Clark...



#89 john aston

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Posted 08 December 2019 - 15:44

I said exactly the same thing when watching The Crown the other night. Joanne agreed but sighed when I pointed out that- the horror! -  the Rover saloons should have been P5s , and not P5Bs in pre 1967 scenes 



#90 moffspeed

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Posted 11 December 2019 - 10:13

I said exactly the same thing when watching The Crown the other night. Joanne agreed but sighed when I pointed out that- the horror! -  the Rover saloons should have been P5s , and not P5Bs in pre 1967 scenes 

 

Yes the BBC made exactly the same mistake in the rather wonderful A Very English Scandal. Jeremy Thorpe driving around in a Rostyle-wheeled P5B in 1965 - 2 years before the car was launched. The fact that Thorpe actually drove a Humber Super Snipe and not a Rover is also significant.

 

I guess to the general viewing public these are minor errors but the the train carriage scene in the film Dunkirk featuring BR 60/70's rolling stock was less forgiveable....


Edited by moffspeed, 11 December 2019 - 10:15.


#91 Vitesse2

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Posted 11 December 2019 - 13:10

-

Yes the BBC made exactly the same mistake in the rather wonderful A Very English Scandal. Jeremy Thorpe driving around in a Rostyle-wheeled P5B in 1965 - 2 years before the car was launched. The fact that Thorpe actually drove a Humber Super Snipe and not a Rover is also significant.....

There's also a T-registered caravan in one shot and a Hillman Hunter with a J (August 1970-July 1971) registration in a scene depicting events in June 1970.

 

In the 2013 BBC two-parter on the Great Train Robbery, there are two Mark 2 Jags with A registrations used as getaway cars in the November 1962 London Airport robbery ...



#92 Nemo1965

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Posted 11 December 2019 - 15:24

I'm totally convinced, having seen all the classics, there's no way to make a really good racing movie. The racing scenes never come anywhere close to the real thing, never. I hold "Grand Prix" dear, but that's mainly because I watched it when I was about 12 and hadn't seen any real racing up to that point, i.e. it's mainly nostalgia.

 

Now there's a thought... maybe a really brilliant script and a really brilliant director and really brilliant actors, and for the racing scenes only use genuine footage... that might work. But as long as they insist on stageing the actual racing scenes, no way.

I don't agree. I understand that the Autosport-article said we should just overlook 'select lower gear, floor the throttle, now I am going to overtake' - approach from the Ford vs Ferrari-movie, but that is nonsense. In the Rush-movie there were several instances in which the mind of a racing driver was portrayed in an suggestive, poetic way. Not neccesarily realistic, but evoking. Take the Suzuka- Fuiji sequence which brings to life beautifully what went to Lauda's mind when he pulled into the pits and retired. It was not what happened, it was not wat Lauda told per se, but it tried to evoke it.

 

All it would take is a director (or camera-man) who would dare to use his imagination or who would just LISTEN to what F1-drivers have to say. Lewis has talked about the lines he saw on the track, when he was in topform. Stewart talked about bringing the car to 'rest' before he made it change direction. Others have talked or written about not driving corners but whole tracks as an organic whole.

 

With that in mind, a director could make a film about Jim Clark. The title: 'Pure Champion.' Try to capture how a Scottish sheep-farmer had an talent for motorracing that was inexplicable, sometimes even for himself. But also he tried to explain it, and you could use THAT for something in movies.

 

“Most people run deep into a corner before turning the wheel. In this way you can complete your braking in a straight line, as everyone recommends you do, before setting the car up for the corner. But I prefer to cut into the corner early and even with my brakes still on to set up the car earlier. In this way I almost make a false apex because I get the power on early and try to drift the car through the true apex and continue with this sliding until I am set up for the next bit of straight.”

 

Now picture yourself a very close up of an actor playing Jim Clark... his eyes peering through the goggles. You see him squinting. The sound disappears. Next shot the corner he is going to take. But then, in slow motion, you see the camera tilting to the inside of the corner, away from the tarmac. You see the front wheels pointing at the grass, or perhaps even at the photographer sitting there... you, the viewer, think he is going to crash. But at the last moment the grass, the photographer shifts out of focus, there is the tarmac again... and at that moment you hear the engine starting to climb to a climax.


Edited by Nemo1965, 12 December 2019 - 09:42.


#93 LittleChris

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Posted 11 December 2019 - 22:33

 Take the Suzuka-sequence which brings to life beautifully what went to Lauda's mind when he pulled into the pits and retired. 

 

Possibly "what am I doing in Suzuka when everyone else is at Fuji !!   :drunk:



#94 E1pix

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Posted 12 December 2019 - 03:53

My concept ? A film entitled 'Not so grim up north ' starring Chris Meek and Tony Lanfranchi, with a sub plot involving Can Am victor and cigar smuggler Tony Dean
 
Rufforth would be recreated easily enough by any old airfield and an old  tent, Croft ditto but with an old bus .
 
Lights , camera , and ..... Action!.

https://m.youtube.co...h?v=xXjZYIzKGCM

#95 Nemo1965

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Posted 12 December 2019 - 09:42

Possibly "what am I doing in Suzuka when everyone else is at Fuji !!   :drunk:

Duh.



#96 john aston

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Posted 12 December 2019 - 13:08

Fabulous - and how strange it feels now to have seen Tony Dean in the self same 908 in small club meetings at Rufforth, near York , blitz the opposition. As often as not, the poor souls in the Libre races would have been in Mallocks , Sevens and FF1600s..



#97 E1pix

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Posted 12 December 2019 - 14:28

Glad you liked it, John. :-)

#98 Nemo1965

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Posted 12 December 2019 - 17:50

Fabulous indeed. Just to make a movie with these colors... and the girls (or, rather, their granddaugthers).

 

And I wonder: where was team Penske?


Edited by Nemo1965, 12 December 2019 - 17:53.


#99 E1pix

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Posted 12 December 2019 - 18:17

In Indy cars and Trans-Am in that era. I believe they ran no Can-Am from '68 through '71.

If you'd said "Great granddaughters," I'd feel old right now. ;-)

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#100 Nemo1965

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Posted 12 December 2019 - 19:58

In Indy cars and Trans-Am in that era. I believe they ran no Can-Am from '68 through '71.

If you'd said "Great granddaughters," I'd feel old right now. ;-)

 

If I would have said 'great granddaughters' I would have been a dirty creep. If a girl present at that race was 25 in 1970, she might have had children between 1972 and 1982. Their would make their daugthers between 36 and 47. The latter category would have daughters that could be around 20... that is already much too young for me, but perhaps not to play their grandmothers in a movie...