At 09:56 AM 04/02/2001 -0700, Steve Laifman wrote:
>My experience on "Studio Cars" used in movies and TV shows...........
Steve,
An excellent and, I think, very correct description of how promotional
vechicles were used by both the car manufacturers and the Hollywood
production studios. And from what I hear from some friends in the
business, it's still done pretty much the same way today.
Ian Garrard was a master of promotional advertising. Using about every
gimmick known to man, he kept Rootes products continually visible to the
public through racing, magazine coverage, parades, movie and TV stars, or
whatever. In addition to the Cary Grant Tiger which you mention (also see
front cover of Tiger Tales for April 1998/Volume 28 Issue 3), Rootes
vehicles were also provided to (among others) Bette Davis, Edie Adams (no
relation to Don), Jo Collins (Playboy pink Tiger) and, of course, Paramount
Studios (for Get Smart.) Ian kept a fairly detailed accounting of these
promotional cars, including a determination of their depreciated value at
the time of their eventual sale. Some of those Tigers sold for as little
as $1500!
I am not certain what happened to Ian's old records, although I think at
one time they were in the possession of an STOA member in the Bay Area. It
might be interesting to track them down so we could reveiw the histories of
some of those old promotional cars.
Dick
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