‘Pulp Fiction’ is an iconic piece of cinema and one of the reasons pretty much everyone, even the David Tracys of the world, know the name Quentin Tarantino. But you know what would be interesting? ‘Pulp Fiction’ with a car focus. The film has great cars in it, but it’s not about cars.
The world has been mega fascinated with the fallout of the Astronomer CEO perhaps getting a bit too close with company HR at a Coldplay concert. The now infamous “Kiss Cam” footage has already even been spoofed by creators and even sports mascots. Anyway, Jason wrote a silly post about how there’s no real car angle to this scandal. IRegertNothing, Esq.:
I keep thinking there was a car called the Loyalty, which would have been nice and ironic here. Oh well. I doubt anyone has ever made a car with name that roughly means say goodbye to half of your shit.
Tbird:
Subaru once had the Loyale.
A. Barth:
Jules: Heh – “Loyale with cheese”… What did they call a Twingo?
Vincent: I don’t know; I didn’t go to a Renault dealership.
Disphenoidal:
You know why they don’t call it a Subaru Leone?
The metric system?
Elsewhere, Ash78 comes in with a home run:
My problem with big arena concerts is always the low fidelity.
It took me a very long time to figure that one out.
Thomas wrote about how ‘Top Gear’ was wrong about the Lexus SC 430, and I love these competing comments. Crank Shaft teaches you a new word:
I couldn’t even read this whole article. Time has changed nothing. It’s still ugly as sin due to the ichthyological styling and the stupid fucking Toyota obsession with coating burled wood in a gloss finish. Ewwwww.
I don’t care in the slightest if it’s great car when it’s just so aggressively ugly.
Vb9594 disagrees:
I have an ’05. Also have a ’91 Miata, an ’88 Saab 900T convertible, an ’88 BMW 535is and a ’64 Buick Riviera so COME AT ME BRO in terms of car guy credentials..
The SC430 is a fantastic car. Comfortable, looks great (IMHO) and it rarely breaks. Give that big beautiful V8 some gas and roll down the boulevard. And when the top is up you could never tell it’s a convertible from the inside. Rock solid.
I hated them when they came out. Picked mine up for cheap money and it’s my go to for when I want a relaxing ride. Love it.
Btw- these came with run flats that rode horribly. Ditching them for regular tires improves the ride exponentially.
Ash78 makes a second appearance in this COTD for this comment in the story about the Chris Harris stolen BMW:
“Wait, I’ve found some sort of papers in the seat crease…what’s all this? Larry Sellers? Hey Larry! Larry! Do you want to know what happens when you find a stranger’s M5 in the council?!”
Grabs golf club (er, bat) and walks toward nearest Nissan Micra.
“This is what happens, Larry! THIS. Is what happens, Larry!”
Pensioner walks out, appalled…
Have a great day, everyone!
Topshot: Miramax Films
When Mr. Wolf rolls up in an NSX good times are to be had!
I’m sorry baby, I had to crash that Honda.
“Oh well. I doubt anyone has ever made a car with a name that roughly means say goodbye to half of your shit.”
Counterpoint: “Used Maserati”
As opposed to an old Land Rover, which means losing all your shit, and your children’s, and your children’s children’s, yea, unto the seventh generation thereafter.
I have to agree with the sentiment that Pulp Fiction IS a car movie. Kinda talked about that on an early episode of Reels & Wheels:
https://reelsandwheels.libsyn.com/reels-and-wheels-pulp-fiction-with-cb-wilkins
This is what happens when you find a stranger in the alps.
I mean, Harris basically went to the scene of the crime with a golf club, so sometimes the comments write themselves 🙂
IIRC, Bristol is a pretty cool town that unfortunately got the sh*t bombed out of it by the Nazis. One of my most distinct memories of visiting there as a teenager was seeing the shot tower (ball bearing factory) and learning about how they made little balls by dropping lead from 100′ up and allowing it to naturally form into a round shape before hitting the cool water below that would harden them. Interesting stuff for industrial nerds, engineers, history buff, and basically nobody else. Otherwise, Bristol is probably most famous as the home of Banksy, Massive Attack, and tons of other English cultural (er, countercultural?) icons. Comedian Steve Merchant, too.
Anyway, Bristol has one of the most iconic shot towers in the world, 142′ tall and now used for corporate offices/events, apparently. It was in use through the early 90s!
Alas, the shot tower is actually a modern recreation. And while Bristol got bombed pretty hard, it was mostly the centre, other cites came off much, much, worse (eg Coventry, Clydebank, London, etc.).
My favourite fact is that some of the rubble from the bombed city centre was used as ballast on merchant ships travelling back to the US. The ships had come over fully laden, and obviously the UK wasn’t exporting much at that time, so they took the nearest source of mass to use as ballast, ie rubble from destroyed buildings.
Once the ships got back to the United States they didn’t need the ballast, so it was used as infill in New York, hence the area named ‘Bristol Basin’ is built from the remains of bombed Bristol. (src)
Awesome. I did know that Cheese Lane was a 60s version, but the concept was still really new to me (Ball bearings are one of those things that uninformed people just assume are stamped or cast somehow).
Shame there wasn’t more bombing, it would help explain some of the architecture (/s)
I spent a month or so studying in Plymouth, speaking of heavy bombing. Their original main cathedral still sits in the middle of town, hollowed out as a reminder. Coastal cities really took a beating, that’s why I’m always amazed that Dover castle even made it (along with the 2,000 Roman ruins there).
Lead would make pretty awful ball bearings. It was lead shotgun pellets they were making:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheese_Lane_Shot_Tower
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shot_(pellet)
While we are here, can we talk about the cars in Sneaky Pete?
I loved the “The Cars of Insert Movie/Show” posts. Car casting is one of those details that really sells a world
and in Government Cheese, too!