Old Photo - The Absent-Minded Professor's 1915 Model T

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Model T Ford Forum: Forum 2014: Old Photo - The Absent-Minded Professor's 1915 Model T
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jay - In Northern California on Monday, January 27, 2014 - 04:51 pm:


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Frank Harris from Long Beach & Big Bear on Monday, January 27, 2014 - 04:57 pm:

That car was owned by the late Ben Snyder. He belonged to the HCCA and Ward Kimble got movie jobs for a lot of So Cal HCC members and their cars.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Richard Eagle Ida Fls on Monday, January 27, 2014 - 05:10 pm:

As I recall Ben also owned #220. Ward Kimble created Jiminie Cricket.

Can we blame our Model T's for our Absent Mindedness?

Rich


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jay - In Northern California on Monday, January 27, 2014 - 05:22 pm:

I always enjoyed Ward Kimball's zany artwork in the Early Horseless Carriage Gazette's. He lead a very interesting and full life.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bill Elliott on Monday, January 27, 2014 - 05:30 pm:

Looks like a 1916 to me, based on the seat rivit on the side.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By David Dewey, N. California on Monday, January 27, 2014 - 05:47 pm:

I'm thinking that Warehouse sign was probably done by Ward. Don't forget all the cover art on the Gazette done by co-worker, Ben Sharpsteen. Ben always put something funny happening in his cover paintings. One of the Ts in the movie was (is still??) owned by some folks near me in Nevada City.(CA), and yep, a '16 very much like mine!


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Darel J. Leipold on Monday, January 27, 2014 - 05:54 pm:

Years ago once when I was in California I visited Ben Synder. The T in question was in his collection. He told me that a section was cut out of the body to make it less wide so it could be bounced on a modern auto. It did not have an engine.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bill Elliott on Monday, January 27, 2014 - 06:02 pm:

Doesn't look like it has any Ford script on the rad and there are no louvers in the rad hood.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Tom Carnegie on Monday, January 27, 2014 - 06:59 pm:

Fred Upshaw always claimed that his 1961 Montana 500 car was "the Flubber car". I think that the flying one in the movie is narrowed up and that possibly another car, perhaps Fred's was used for certain non-flying shots.

In this article Fred's car is mentioned.

http://www.antiqueautoranch.com/montana500/yearinfo/1961/1961b.html


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Dan Killecut on Monday, January 27, 2014 - 07:12 pm:

I picked up this Golden Book for my 2 1/2 year old grandson, but he wasn't much interested. He would rather go through the Model T directory looking at real T's


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Larry Bohlen, Severn MD on Monday, January 27, 2014 - 08:23 pm:

There is great scene in the movie when he testing the properties of flubber and what it can do and is lifting the engine and other parts into the air at the end of a chain in the garage.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Terry Horlick in Penn Valley, CA on Monday, January 27, 2014 - 11:27 pm:

The car driven on the ground was a 1915 owned by Don Jennings, a frequent contributor to the HCCA Gazette many years ago and author of "Three Pedals Down Main Street".

Unfortunately Don passed away but the car is now in his son Bill's barn here in Grass Valley. It is a lovely green touring restored by Don and used in many commercials. I bet you couldn't tell it was green by looking at the film!

Don told me about his teaching Fred McMurray to drive a T so he could pilot "Gloria" in the film. According to Don the studio was purchasing Gloria for the film but when Don heard they were going to cut her up and hang her from a cable in order to fly he cancelled the sale and referred them to the fellow who sold them the car they used. Later they came back to Don and told him they decided they needed some shots of the car driving around on the street, so they rented Gloria.

Unfortunately Bill did not inherit any documentation with the car... that was all verbal history from Don.

TH


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Neil McKay on Tuesday, January 28, 2014 - 12:01 am:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uIum2T6_RI


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bill Harris, Huntington Beach California on Tuesday, January 28, 2014 - 12:32 am:

15t
While were on the subject of Model Ts on the big screen... here's a slightly off topic (sort of) thread drift:
We recently shot a TV Commercial with our 15 Touring. I removed the "Ford" emblem and mirrors. They sprayed dulling agent (hair spray?) on my brass to cut down reflections into the camera. I'll post more information once it is released :-)


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Tom Carnegie on Tuesday, January 28, 2014 - 02:34 am:

I wonder if Fred Upshaw's car was used in the movie too, or was he telling tales? In addition to the newspaper article that I posted above that mentions Fred's car as the Flubber car, here is an audio of Fred talking about the 1961 Montana 500 where he mentions driving the "Flubber Ford".

http://www.antiqueautoranch.com/montana500/yearinfo/1961/1961fu.mp3


He mentions it at about 3:50 in. He also says earlier in the recording that he was driving a 1915 roadster, which is not true. In fact Fred "misremembered" several things about the run.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ron Dupree on Tuesday, January 28, 2014 - 06:52 am:

This guy claims to have bought the prop car from the Movieland Wax Museum several years ago. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=567271


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Larry Smith on Tuesday, January 28, 2014 - 09:55 am:

Fred Upshaw told me he owned the car that flew. They removed non essential parts to make it lighter.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Gary Tillstrom on Tuesday, January 28, 2014 - 10:55 am:

I find it hard to believe the claim made by Don Jennings that he taught Fred to drive a T. Fred was born in 1908 and was in other movies well before this one. If you look in the book "Henry's Wonderful Model T" you will see a picture of a young Fred driving a T. The book was published in 55 and the Flubber movie came out in 67.

I just find it very hard to believe anyone born in 08 not having one of his first exposures to driving a car and it not being a T. At least half of the cars on the road during Freds early years were T's.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Roger Karlsson, southern Sweden on Tuesday, January 28, 2014 - 11:05 am:

The Absent minded professor film we're talking about in this thread was first released in march 1961, then rereleased in 1967 and 1975 to movie theaters back in those pre home video days.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Absent-Minded_Professor

Later there were two remakes, one in 1988 for TV and another for movies in 1997 (the latter with Robin Williams)


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Gary Tillstrom on Tuesday, January 28, 2014 - 11:09 am:

Either way, there are movies with Fred driving a T before Clymer published his book in 55. I looked at the movie date on the poster and thought it said 67. Could have been 61. Doesn't change the fact that I believe Fred already knew how to drive a T.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Norman T. Kling on Tuesday, January 28, 2014 - 11:47 am:

I am so old that I saw that picture at the Frontier Drive in theater located where the Valley View Sports Arena is now located in San Diego! That was sometime around 1960.
Norm


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Royce in Dallas TX on Tuesday, January 28, 2014 - 09:27 pm:



Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jay - In Northern California on Friday, December 19, 2014 - 11:38 am:

Thought I'd bump this one before the 2014 forum is closed.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Dave Wells on Friday, December 19, 2014 - 11:55 am:

In some of the pics, the passenger side oil lamp is missing. That's pretty absent minded.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Terry Horlick in Penn Valley, CA on Friday, December 19, 2014 - 01:10 pm:

Last week Bill got Don's car "Gloria" out of 15 year storage. I was there helping to roll cars around as Bill is recovering from shoulder surgery. Gloria looks just as nice as when Bill stored her. She was used in numerous films and commercials in the 50's and 60's including Absent Minded Professor.

Bill gave me a bit more of the car's history. Don, Bill, Mom and Sister used to get piled into "Baby Doll", their 1915 roadster for tours all over California in the 50's. Eventually Don figured out that a touring car would fit the family better. So he obtained lots of pieces and set Bill to assembling the car after school in his afternoons. Don would come home from work and check the progress.

Gloria was the result, she became the families tour car as well as bringing in some cash from Hollywood.

The film was black and white so you didn't notice that the car driven on the ground was green!

Here's what she looked like last week!



TH


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Justin Heim on Friday, December 19, 2014 - 02:25 pm:

I grew up in the age of re-runs but I remember the episode of 'My Three Sons' where Fred MacMurray bought one of his sons (I think it was Robbie) a Model T as his first car. He hated it until his friends took a liking to it and its "original bud vases".


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Glen Chaffin on Friday, December 19, 2014 - 03:08 pm:

The car in the picture posted by Royce is a different car than the rest. Look at the side lights. All brass with different shaped tops.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Wayne Sheldon, Grass Valley, CA on Friday, December 19, 2014 - 07:59 pm:

Again, there were at least two "cars" used to film the movie. One, a real whole car that Terry gives us an update on. And a mock-up used for special effects shots. Hence the different lights and things not looking quite right.
The mock-ups I have seen in some museum and display photos does not look like it does in some of the film stills. I wonder if that is due to post-filming special effects? Or more than one mock-up?

Another interesting (at least to me) side-note about the flying car mock-up. Years ago, I read and saw photos including an interview with Albert Einstein. Late in his life, Albert and his wife got a guided tour of Disney Studios. While there, he and his wife were sat in this strange contraption that looked like a model T, and bounced around for awhile. Later, after finishing the tour, he was given a souvenir film. Watching the film later, he got to see himself flying all over the world visiting numerous famous landmarks in this remarkable model T. The quintessential genius admitted to being amazed and wondering aloud "How such a thing could be done?"
This probably occurred about the time filming was being done on the movie and the mock-up with back-screen was still set up.
I wonder if a copy of that film still exists?

Thank you Jay, and Terry, for bringing this forward.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Colin Mavins on Friday, December 19, 2014 - 08:11 pm:

If I remember correctly the side lamp was missing because it was shot off when making there away


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Scott Kramer on Friday, December 19, 2014 - 10:08 pm:

Justin,
The episode was Chip On Wheels.The car was a Model T coupe.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Larry Smith on Saturday, December 20, 2014 - 11:02 am:

I drove Gloria to Big Bear on a tour back in the early '60s with Dons daughter Donna, who I was kind of dating at the time. I remember I had to use low pedal all the way up the mountain, and when we got there, I couldn't unlock my knee!


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By David Menzies on Monday, December 22, 2014 - 02:56 pm:

I was visiting a museum in Reno some years ago and it was claimed they had the/a mock-up of model T used in the movie. It has a considerable amount of styrofoam throughout for weight. An interesting note when I visited the museum and learned that they had the mock-up model I had noticed the steering wheel was on upside down. We had a discussion about the steering wheel installation and the curator was sure that it was on correctly and I was just as sure that it wasn't. They produced some of the original photos and the dilemma was resolved, the steering wheel was promptly turned over and re-installed.


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