{"id":41691,"date":"2015-04-05T22:36:00","date_gmt":"2015-04-05T22:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/owegopennysaver.com\/?p=41691"},"modified":"2015-04-05T22:36:00","modified_gmt":"2015-04-05T22:36:00","slug":"collector-car-corner-topper-movie-car-most-memorable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2015\/04\/05\/collector-car-corner-topper-movie-car-most-memorable\/","title":{"rendered":"Collector Car Corner – \u2018Topper\u2019 movie car most memorable"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Collector<\/a>

Here\u2019s the Topper movie car after undergoing several transformations as it appeared at the Pete Petersen Auto Museum in Los Angeles back in 2010. (Courtesy Pete Petersen)<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Collector<\/a>

The Topper movie car in its original design for the 1937 hit movie \u201cTopper.\u201d Actually, the car is one the \u201cstars\u201d of the movie. (Hal Roach Studios Publicity Photo).<\/p><\/div>\n

Q: Hello Greg, I enjoy your columns very much and I can tell you\u2019ve \u201cbeen around\u201d for a very long time. However, I\u2019m now 82, so I probably have a few years on you.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m hoping you can do an article on the \u201cTopper\u201d movie car. In this movie, they had a custom and very sleek personal vehicle that looks custom made. It had a speedboat style back with a fin and a windshield that looked like a \u201938 Studebaker. I also felt that it might have been a Buick \u201c8\u201d or a Graham or a Lycoming. I just could never figure out which car it was as it had Cord like hood pipes, too.<\/p>\n

Perhaps this car is lost in a museum somewhere and I\u2019d like to know if you can help in locating it and letting your readers know what kind of car it actually was. Any information is appreciated, and please keep those interesting columns coming. Curt N., Alex, Minnesota.<\/p>\n

A: Curt, I sure do remember the \u201cTopper\u201d movie car, which starred Cary Grant and Constance Bennett\u00a0and was produced by Hal Roach back in 1937.<\/p>\n

My brother and I used to watch the 30-minute TV \u201cTopper\u201d series shows during the 1950 decade as we grew up, along with Ramar of the Jungle,\u00a0Lone Ranger,\u00a0Sergeant Preston of the Yukon, Tombstone Territory, and the other popular series of the day.<\/p>\n

As for Topper\u2019s car, it was indeed at the time the most famous movie car ever to hit the screen. It was actually a 1936 Buick Chrysler – yes, a combination of the two cars built by Pasadena Coachbuilders\u00a0Bohman\u00a0and Schwartz. Built specifically to be featured in the \u201cTopper\u201d movie for the \u201calways out for a good time\u201d ghosts, it did include as you note styling cues from Cord (exhausts), Graham (shark-like front end),\u00a0along with Buick and Chrysler styling.<\/p>\n

After the movie, Mobil Gas\u00a0purchased the roadster and had Bohman and Schwartz do some updates to the body. They re-christened the car \u201cThe Gilmore Special,\u201d and later the \u201cMobilgas Special.\u201d Mobil owned Gilmore, and fans of A.J. Foyt will quickly recognize the name Gilmore, as the company sponsored many of his championship Indy cars.<\/p>\n

Originally built on a 1936 \u201cStraight-8\u201d Buick chassis, the car received Chrysler underpinnings in 1954, including Bohman re-fitting the body and interior on a new 1954 Chrysler Imperial chassis powered by a 235-horse Chrysler Hemi V8.<\/p>\n

After a few more updates, the car was purchased by Jim Brucker as part of his\u00a0\u201cMovieland \u2013 Cars of the Stars\u201d collection in Buena Park, Calif. The car was then auctioned off in 2006 by RM Auctions\/Sotheby\u2019s when Movieland closed. It sold for $132,000 and ended up at the fabulous R.E. \u201cPete\u201d Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, he the founder of Hot Rod Magazine back in 1948. I had the pleasure of interviewing Mr. Petersen prior to his passing in 2007 and he mentioned the Topper movie car to me.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve attached photos of the car as it appeared in the movie and as the Movie World car as displayed in 2010 at Petersen\u2019s museum. Hope this all helps, as the \u201cTopper car\u201d was a huge part of the 1937 movie, and now gives reason for all my readers to watch.<\/p>\n

Thanks for your letter Curt, and here\u2019s to many more years of enjoying the cars we all grew up with.<\/p>\n

(Greg Zyla is a syndicated auto columnist who welcomes reader questions on collector cars, auto nostalgia and old-time racing at 116 Main St., Towanda, Pa. 18848 or email at greg@gregzyla.com).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Q: Hello Greg, I enjoy your columns very much and I can tell you\u2019ve \u201cbeen around\u201d for a very long time. However, I\u2019m now 82,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"\nCollector Car Corner - \u2018Topper\u2019 movie car most memorable - Owego Pennysaver Press<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2015\/04\/05\/collector-car-corner-topper-movie-car-most-memorable\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Collector Car Corner - \u2018Topper\u2019 movie car most memorable - Owego Pennysaver Press\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Q: Hello Greg, I enjoy your columns very much and I can tell you\u2019ve \u201cbeen around\u201d for a very long time. 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