One of the greatest car-adjacent movies is My Cousin Vinny. The movie largely centers around a court case involving a car, and it’s just so good on so many fronts, from the jokes and the acting, to, as my wife says, decent legal accuracy for a movie. One of the most iconic parts of the film is when Lisa absolutely destroys the prosecution with awesome knowledge of GM products. At least, that’s what you’d think.
Yesterday, the Bishop wrote about the clever engineering in the Pontiac Tempest. MikuhlBrian:
The 1963 Pontiac Tempest convertible was also the car that made those two, equal length tire marks outside the Sac’ O Suds, and not a 64 Buick Skylark convertible.
Shop-Teacher:
Both available in metallic mint green paint too!
Here’s the legendary scene:
Unfortunately, the writers took some creative liberties here. As Curbside Classic reported, the Tempest wasn’t actually available with a limited-slip differential in 1963, but the 1964 Buick Skylark did have such an option. Another issue is that “Positraction” was a Chevy thing, not Buick or Pontiac. More than that, Curbside Classic notes, the Skylark and the Tempest were not visually similar and didn’t have the same wheelbase, either.
So, it was a brilliant scene, just not for its automotive accuracy. However, the goal in a trial like this is for the defense to create at least some doubt in the prosecution, and I think Lisa nailed it.
Anyway, Brian wrote about how Mini thinks all-terrain tires are enough for an off-road version. Aaronaut had some perfect COTD bait:
Well slap some A/Ts on a Smart and call me Mercedes Streeter!
Bishop wrote about how Ford built a sort of wannabe Mercedes that was basically a Granada. The ad copy didn’t even try to hide how Ford felt it made a cheap Mercedes. Cheap Bastard:
Think German: Cost.
Think Italian: Rust.
Think British: Build quality and Lucas reliability.
Then…Think American.
Finally, if you have the choice between an old Chrysler van and a Ford Taurus, there’s only one pick. Hangover Grenade:
You should just get a van. With a van, it’s like you’ve got an MBA, but you’ve also got a fucking van. You’re not just a man anymore – you are a man with a van. You get a van, we could be men with ven.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Top graphic image: 20th Century Fox
Loving ven as a plural for van
You’ve never seen a Ven Diagram with only one circle, right? THAT would be a Van Diagram.
Fixed it
I figured that was covered under British build quality.
I’ve always told the joke, Why don’t the British make computers? They can get them to leak oil.
Clearly you have forgotten about Acorn and Sinclair.
And then Acorn became Acorn RISC Machines, better known as ARM, and designed the ARM family of processors which almost certainly power your phone, all current Apple computers, and possibly your car. It’s also used in the Raspberry Pi computer, also developed in the UK.
(Not to mention Babbage, Lovelace, Turing, etc etc.)
American cars got rust, lousy build quality, oil leaks, and unreliability. Plus they drove like ass. But hey – they were pretty cheap! That’s good. I guess.
Shouldn’t limited slip be called extra slip? Because, as pointed out in the movie, if you’re stuck, one wheel will slip a lot.
But at least the other still moves. With an open diff, one wheel will spin until eternity as the other sits stationary.
I had thought all those details were dead on balls accurate. I’m surprised/confused since whoever wrote that scene had to have known a TON about cars. Seems like a small overlap in the ven diagram of ppl who have that much knowledge and would be cool with bungling the details.
For a movie like this, I think it would have been forgivable for them to have gone with plausible-sounding nonsense (referring to vehicles that never existed, etc).
When writers (humans, not AI) wrote scripts, they did a little research occasionally, like a proper news reporter.
I have no doubt. My curiosity comes from this being far more than a little research. A normie couldn’t come up with a whole plausible story about a specific car based on two tire tracks.
reminds me of a movie about a famous AI. Yeah Bumblebee was a 74 Camaro and a double pump carb would have been believable for a hopped up SBC, but then the movie magician cut to some Big block with a car show side draft weber set up. Looks more FI than Carb as well.
Wasn’t that the same movie where the car [checks notes] …changed into a 40-year-newer car, and also into a robot?
indeed, Very AI
Bwa ha ha! My nefarious plan succeeded!
Although the Curbside Classic analysis was mostly accurate, “Positraction” has come to be a generic (and accepted) term for any sort of limited-slip differential, much like “Kleenex” is used for any facial tissue.
Or Dumpster is used for any waste disposal unit, or Escalator for any moving stairs
Or cybertruck
Bingo, Ford called theirs TractionLoc, but everone just calls it a Posi…
I just call it LSD mannnn.
One thing I appreciate about COTD is it surfacing gems I missed throughout the day and Hangover Grenade got me good this evening. Well done and congrats to the winners!
My Cousin Vinny is one my favorite movies ever. In addition, my surname is the same as the judge’s first name in the movie.
As I’ve said several times before, I have a Ford Durango project car/truck. Part of the reason I’ve always been fascinated with them is because I’m Australian (moved to US in ’88) and utes were long Australia’s national vehicle.
Combine all this together and I’m totally putting this sticker on the back of it.
https://www.teepublic.com/sticker/58592196-did-you-say-yutes-my-cousin-vinny
I know a judge who tells us Utes that my cousin vinny is, oddly enough, the most accurate trial film hes seen.
I read somewhere that it has actually been used during some sort of official legal training.
It does take some liberties for the sake of narrative, but far less of them than pretty much any other courtroom film of the past several decades, made even more surprising by the fact that its a comedy and not a legal drama
I have heard Scrubs is the most medically accurate show
I had an ex-cop friend who always said that Reno 911! was the most accurate TV police show.
Back in the 70s real cops said that about “Barney Miller”.
Benny Hill?
If this comment is at all serious, I’ve got questions.
True about Tacoma FD too
I lived in Reno for a few years. Reno 911! is also the most accurate Reno tv show.
I could tell that after visiting Reno for 5 minutes.