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Topic starter
07/08/2023 2:01 pm
This is a Pontiac convertible in yellow and black for the "big year" of 1955. It is a really beautiful car in 1:1 and 1/18 and my family had a two-tone blue 4-door for a number of years. SunStar modeled this one really nicely in the Platinum Series and I have several versions of this V-8 star.
07/08/2023 4:17 pm
That is a great model. As a kid, I hated that black/yellow tutone.
07/08/2023 6:42 pm
One of the BEST models ever and at a decent price point !
I had the black/red hardtop.
I also had the '59 Mercury cnvrt.
Steve
Topic starter
08/08/2023 1:35 am
SunStar Platinum does some excellent diecast models of great automotive subject matter. I have a number of their fine models and I think five of them are various different 1955 Pontiacs.
Steve Jacobs and Jack Dodds reacted
08/08/2023 10:07 am
The 55 Pontiac Star Chief convertible is special to me because my dad bought one new when I was a car crazy kid of 15. Dad's was Black/White with a Black canvas top. Love the pictures Mike as your backgrounds make the cars look like 1/1 scale.
Topic starter
08/08/2023 1:20 pm
Thanks, Bob ! It is a beautiful car and model. Your family and mine both bought a new 1955 Pontiac. Ours stayed in the family for many years and, just perhaps, it may still be out there somewhere. Long May You Run ! (with apologies to the Stills-Young Band song)
Steve Jacobs and Jack Dodds reacted
08/08/2023 10:11 pm
Sunstar also did a 'I Love Lucy' version with Lucy and Dez figures in the front seats and a guitar in a guitar case and some other stuff in the back seats.
They were going for about $100 when first released about 3-4 years ago, but are getting 4 times that and more now.
Topic starter
09/08/2023 1:19 pm
Sunstar also did a 'I Love Lucy' version with Lucy and Dez figures in the front seats and a guitar in a guitar case and some other stuff in the back seats.
They were going for about $100 when first released about 3-4 years ago, but are getting 4 times that and more now.................
They are really nice and in a great color scheme ! The figures look terrific and many years ago I heard the removed the front windshield from Hollywood cars whenever they did front seat close-up shots to avoid reflections.
09/08/2023 7:16 pm
Sunstar also did a 'I Love Lucy' version with Lucy and Dez figures in the front seats and a guitar in a guitar case and some other stuff in the back seats.
They were going for about $100 when first released about 3-4 years ago, but are getting 4 times that and more now.................
They are really nice and in a great color scheme ! The figures look terrific and many years ago I heard the removed the front windshield from Hollywood cars whenever they did front seat close-up shots to avoid reflections.
They did much more than that. In many cases, not only was window glass removed but so were vent window frames, interior mirrors & visors. Also common was applying paste wax to body panels and especially anything chrome to eliminate glare & reflections.
I don't think I've ever seen any Mayberry Police cars with shinny chrome. Most chrome was either heavily waxed or painted dull silver of flat black.
Topic starter
09/08/2023 10:24 pm
At one time I think YouTube had some raw footage of "around town" shots that were used for rear projections seen out of the various windows of automobiles while they were in the studio. The shots themselves were quite interesting and were very useful to give the impression of being in a moving car.
10/08/2023 2:43 am
@mikedetorrice I recently saw 'colourised' footage of a drive through West Hollywood / Beverly Hills from the early 1940s. It was a side piece of a programme on some starlet or other and was fascinating in and of itself, to spot the cars and architecture / street scene of the day (though colourisation wasn't great). Now I realise it must originally have been one of these rear-view projections.
10/08/2023 2:45 am
Very nice model and as ever, brought to life with these scenarios and super photography.
10/08/2023 4:16 am
@mikedetorrice Well Mike, being the TV Nerd that I am, you're "forcing me" to reveal a few little known I Love Lucy TV facts.
Since you brought up the subject of "raw footage, around the town," renowned Desilu film editor, Dann Cahn created what is considered to be the first "process shot" in TV history when he matted a fixed foreground with film of a moving background during this famous scene of the Ricardos & the Mertzs driving to California in their 1955 Pontiac convertible.
10/08/2023 12:28 pm
@ben-lampson Ben, I also have the Lucy version. Since I never sell models I had no idea that the model was worth that much today.
John Merritt and John Kuvakas reacted
10/08/2023 1:09 pm
When discussing the windshields being removed from TV and movie cars, those who watch Perry Mason reruns will notice most of the cars seen driven by Perry, Paul Drake and others, have the windshields removed. And unrelated to old cars, but another classic TV show, "The Adventures of Superman" always had the "lenses" in Clark Kent's glasses removed, so as to not have a glare. Check it out next time you watch the "Man of Steel". 
George Schire
Oakdale, Minnesota
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