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3:00

How can I? But

3:05

it is still. A

3:10

little greater than new news. You're

3:19

still wondering. The

3:23

press reversals in the mid epic. They've put their Khal subsequent built

3:27

been been

3:42

been back

3:49

in the early nineteen eighties

3:51

the auto industry was ailing

3:53

Japanese imports where gobbling up market

3:56

share lead I a

3:58

coca was at the helm of the Christ Corporation

4:01

and he was promoting the products of

4:03

a newly invigorated company. Ayakoka

4:06

became the spokesman in his own Chrysler

4:08

commercials because he wanted the public to

4:10

know that his cars were as good

4:12

as or better than his Japanese rivals.

4:14

If a manufacturer doesn't have enough confidence

4:16

in the quality of what he makes

4:18

he doesn't have the right to ask

4:20

you to buy it and it

4:23

doesn't make any difference what he makes washing

4:25

machines toasters or roller skates. Me I'm

4:27

in the car business and I've been

4:30

saying for a long time that Chrysler

4:32

makes cars that are as good if

4:34

not better than anything coming out of

4:36

America, Europe or Japan. Ayakoka ended every

4:38

commercial with this bold taunt. If you

4:40

can find a better car, buy it.

4:43

It was a brash campaign but

4:45

Ayakoka was a brash CEO. He

4:48

knew the battle against well-made Japanese

4:50

imports wasn't going to be easy.

4:54

That's when an enterprising man named

4:56

Leon Kaplan had an idea and

4:58

he pitched it to Ayakoka. He

5:01

wanted a Chrysler vehicle to

5:03

travel from Japan to the

5:05

USA under its own power.

5:11

It would be a huge publicity

5:13

stunt and Kaplan promised it would

5:15

demonstrate that an American-built automobile was

5:17

better than anything coming out of

5:20

Japan and that suited

5:22

Ayakoka right down to the ground.

5:25

Now just one problem remained

5:28

how does a car cross the ocean

5:30

under its own power? Well

5:33

Kaplan had a solution. He

5:36

wanted to place a Chrysler on

5:38

a custom built 54-foot pry hull

5:40

sailing vessel which would provide stability

5:43

on the sea. The

5:45

Chrysler's drivetrain would provide momentum

5:47

via rollers under the wheels

5:50

which would power a hydraulic propeller

5:53

and the car's steering wheel

5:55

would control the ship's rudder.

5:57

Ayakoka wanted to promote the company's flagshade.

5:59

ship product, the Chrysler LeBaron

6:02

convertible. And he wanted

6:04

the words, new Chrysler Corporation to

6:06

be emblazoned on the sides of

6:08

the vessel. The

6:10

plan was to launch from Japan and

6:13

arrive at the Golden Gate Bridge in

6:15

San Francisco two weeks later to be

6:17

greeted by Lee Iacocca and

6:20

President Ronald Reagan. Then

6:22

the car would drive off

6:25

triumphantly, top down to Chrysler's

6:27

headquarters in Detroit. The

6:30

television coverage would be sensational.

6:36

Kaplan began preparing for the trip.

6:38

He consulted maritime experts about the best

6:40

route and time of year to make

6:42

the journey. A California

6:44

based ship builder was lined up to

6:47

build the sailing vessel. It

6:49

would have a working repair pit under

6:51

the LeBaron along with spare parts and

6:54

tools. A support

6:56

ship would tag along, providing sleeping

6:58

quarters, showers and meals for the

7:00

crew, along with hundreds of

7:02

gallons of unleaded gasoline for the

7:04

car. Mattel even

7:06

signed on to create a toy

7:08

version of the dealership combo. Everything

7:14

was in place except two things,

7:17

namely a signed contract from

7:19

Chrysler and a million dollar

7:21

check from Iacocca to pull it all off.

7:24

That check would normally be pocket

7:27

changed for a car corporation, but

7:29

for one big roadblock. The

7:32

US government had guaranteed $1.5 billion in

7:36

bank loans to help Chrysler fight

7:38

off bankruptcy a few years earlier.

7:41

The agreement stipulated that Chrysler

7:43

had to cut all extraneous

7:45

expenses and a

7:48

publicity stunt that involved a vessel

7:50

containing a convertible LeBaron crossing

7:52

the Pacific from Japan

7:54

to America, costing $1

7:57

million was at the top

7:59

of the list. of extraneous expenses.

8:02

With that, Kaplan's

8:04

all-American, trans-specific, automotive

8:06

spectacular sunk like

8:08

a stone. And Lee

8:11

Iacocca would have to find another

8:13

way to sell his cars. Automotive

8:25

companies are very good at finding ways to

8:27

sell their cars. And one

8:29

of the most profitable ways is to

8:31

look to Hollywood. Most

8:33

Hollywood movies and television shows need

8:35

cars, and car companies are

8:37

happy to provide them. In

8:40

return for the vehicles, car

8:42

brands reach massive global audiences

8:44

who love and lust

8:46

after the cars they see on

8:48

the screen. And

8:50

if car manufacturers are lucky, their

8:53

cars become stars. When

9:15

I was a young whippersnapper growing up

9:17

in the 60s and 70s, I was

9:19

an avid TV watcher. I

9:22

had a lot of favorite shows

9:24

including The Invaders, The FBI, Canon,

9:26

and The Streets of San Francisco.

9:29

All of these shows had three things in

9:31

common. First of all, they

9:34

all contained this opening credit. Almost

9:40

every Quinn Martin production had the

9:42

same announcer. His name was Hank

9:44

Sims. Hank would also announce the

9:46

title of every episode. And Hank

9:48

would do an epilogue

9:59

at the end. side

10:02

note, I worked with Hank once.

10:05

He was also the long time announcer at

10:07

the Academy Awards, and I was

10:09

doing a movie based ad campaign and wanted the

10:11

familiar voice of the Oscars announcer. So we hired

10:13

Hank. The third thing all these Quinn Martin productions

10:16

had in common was something I

10:21

always remembered. Every

10:24

car in every one of those shows was

10:26

a Ford. The main characters drove

10:30

a Ford. The supporting characters

10:32

drove Fords. And at

10:34

the end of every episode in the credits,

10:36

it would say, cars

10:39

furnished by the Ford

10:41

Motor Company. Eventually, Ford would move that

10:44

credit to the start of

10:47

the episodes. The Ford Motor

10:49

Company presents the FBI. Quinn

10:51

Martin produced

10:54

16 different TV series and

10:56

had as many as four running in

10:58

prime time at once. That

11:01

kind of exposure would be a

11:04

very profitable investment for Ford, and

11:06

it wouldn't be the last. Back

11:17

in the day, audiences weren't as fragmented

11:19

as they are now. There were

11:21

only a handful of television channels. And

11:24

if you wanted to see a movie, you had to

11:26

go to your local cinema. So

11:29

primetime TV shows and motion

11:31

pictures offered exposure to huge

11:33

audiences. That meant

11:35

car brands could become iconic if

11:38

placed in the right film or television

11:40

show. The James

11:42

Bond franchise made Aston Martin famous

11:44

to this day. And Bond's

11:47

been driving Astens with a few detours

11:49

here and there since 1964. That's 60

11:51

years of fame for that

11:55

car brand thanks to 60 years

11:57

of Bond films. Interestingly,

12:01

author Ian Fleming, who created James

12:04

Bond, had Bond driving a Bentley

12:06

for the first three novels Casino

12:08

Royale, Live and Let Die, and

12:11

Moonraker. It wasn't

12:13

until the sixth Bond book,

12:15

Goldfinger, that Fleming dropped 007

12:17

into an Aston Martin. Recently,

12:20

that very Aston Martin sold

12:22

for $6 million. In

12:33

1967, the graduate hit theaters. In

12:37

the film, Benjamin Braddock, played

12:40

by Dustin Hoffman, is given

12:42

a beautiful red Alfa Romeo

12:44

spider duetto as a college

12:46

graduation gift. The

12:48

car is in a lot of classic scenes in

12:50

the film, including the one

12:52

where Ben drives Mrs. Robinson home

12:55

from a party at his parents'

12:57

house. She is

12:59

the wife of Ben's father's business

13:01

partner, and in this early

13:03

scene, Mrs. Robinson tries to

13:06

seduce Ben. That

13:08

moment sets the entire movie in

13:10

motion. The graduate

13:12

is one of my favorite films. While

13:16

Mrs. Robinson seduced Ben Braddock, the

13:18

Alfa Romeo seduced me. Many

13:22

years later, I bought an Alfa.

13:25

The model I had wasn't the spider duetto.

13:27

However, it was the spider

13:30

graduate model, named after

13:32

the movie that made it famous.

13:44

The Love Bug debuted in theaters in 1968.

13:48

While the Volkswagen Beetle was already

13:50

beloved, the Love Bug gave it

13:53

enduring movie star appeal. When

13:55

the movie was in pre-production, the car that

13:58

would star had not yet been chosen.

14:01

So the director had a dozen different

14:03

car brands parked outside the studio. The

14:06

lineup included many domestic models,

14:08

some imports like Toyotas and

14:11

Volvos, and at the

14:13

end of the line was a

14:15

1963 Pearl White VW Beetle. When

14:19

the crew walked by to inspect the

14:21

cars, they would kick the tires and

14:23

grab the steering wheels. But

14:25

when they got to the Beetle, they

14:27

smiled and began to pet it. That's

14:30

all the director needed to see. The

14:34

VW Beetle got the job.

14:45

An action series called Starsky and Hutch

14:47

hit the small screen in 1975. Ken

14:49

Hutch Hutchinson and

14:54

Dave Starsky were plainclothes streetwise

14:56

detectives who chased dope dealers,

14:58

muggers and other assorted criminals.

15:02

Starsky and Hutch drove a very

15:04

distinctive car. It was

15:06

a souped-up Ford Torino, painted bright

15:08

red with a crisp white stripe

15:10

down both sides. That

15:12

paint job made the car famous.

15:15

The show was an Aaron Spelling production,

15:18

and Spelling had wanted a Camaro

15:20

for the series, but for some reason

15:22

couldn't secure one. So

15:24

they settled for a Ford Torino

15:26

as part of the Ford Studio

15:28

TV Car Loan program. Little

15:31

did they know their second choice red

15:34

Torino would become famous, so

15:36

famous that Ford would factory-build

15:40

1,200 Grand Torino Starsky and Hutch special

15:42

edition cars for the 1976 model year.

15:47

Side note, Paul Michael

15:49

Glaser, who played Starsky, hated

15:52

the car. He thought

15:54

it was ludicrous that two undercover

15:56

cops would drive around in a

15:58

sensational fire engine red sports

16:00

car. For the entire

16:03

run of the series, Glazer said he

16:05

always tried to wreck the car during

16:07

the chase scenes. He hated

16:09

it that much. But

16:12

that red and white Ford Torino

16:14

may just be the most remembered

16:16

aspect of that TV show and

16:19

is still instantly recognizable

16:21

today. There

16:27

have been a lot of iconic car brands

16:29

in Hollywood productions, but the

16:32

one that got the most screen

16:34

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one to two pounds of food. Individual results may

18:24

vary. If

18:35

I were to ask you which car

18:37

model had the most appearances in TV

18:39

shows and movies over the years, which

18:42

would you pick? The Mustang? The

18:45

Camaro? Black Chevrolet Suburbans?

18:48

The answer is going to surprise you. The

18:52

car with the most Hollywood appearances is

18:54

the Ford Crown

18:56

Victoria. Yep, it's

18:59

true. The unassuming Crown Vic

19:01

shows up in 50% more

19:03

TV shows and movies than any

19:05

other car in Hollywood history. There's

19:08

a reason for that. Almost

19:11

all police cars were Crown Vicks,

19:13

and many taxi cab fleets were

19:15

Crown Vicks. Think

19:17

of all the movies you've seen with

19:19

cop cars and cabs. Chances

19:21

are most of them were Crown

19:24

Victorious. The

19:28

Ford Motor Company held a near monopoly

19:30

on the market for police vehicles in

19:32

North America. The official

19:35

name for the model made

19:37

specifically for law enforcement is

19:39

the Ford Crown Victoria Police

19:41

Interceptor. Known as

19:43

the car you couldn't kill, it was

19:45

a workhorse that required low maintenance.

19:48

Police cars don't get a shift off, and

19:51

the Crown Victoria could take years of 24-hour

19:54

driving. The taxi

19:56

version had an extended wheelbase, giving

19:58

the car six- additional inches

20:01

of legroom. While

20:03

Ford recently stopped producing Crown

20:05

Vicks, thousands are still in

20:07

service. One company

20:10

that supplies cars to film and

20:12

television productions here in Canada is

20:14

called MK Picture Cars. The

20:17

company has a 400 car inventory and 112 of them are

20:19

Crown Vicks because

20:24

it's profitable. Interesting

20:27

tidbit. For its entire

20:29

production life, all Ford

20:31

Crown Victorias were produced by

20:34

Ford Canada. Chrysler

20:46

has partnered its Dodge brand with

20:48

the Fast and Furious movie franchise.

20:51

The car company took a big

20:53

interest in the Furious movies because

20:55

the cars were front and center

20:57

in the storylines, not just background

20:59

pieces. The movie

21:02

franchise gives Dodge a huge

21:04

audience as the box office

21:06

take to date is over

21:08

seven billion dollars worldwide. Dodge

21:11

creates commercials to coincide with the launch

21:13

of the movies as it

21:15

did with Furious 7. It's not Fast

21:17

and Furious without a Dodge. Furious 7

21:20

in theaters April 3rd. Dodge

21:22

is still a partner with the latest

21:24

entry in the franchise, Fast 10, only

21:27

this time there is an electric

21:29

Dodge challenger in the film. The

21:40

Transformers film franchises had a big

21:42

effect on General Motors sales. Beginning

21:45

in 2007, the franchise is raked

21:48

in a box office tally of

21:50

over five billion dollars. Transformers

21:52

is the 13th highest grossing

21:55

film series in Hollywood history

21:57

as of this writing. To

21:59

give you a a sense of how movies

22:01

affect car sales, Chevrolet Camaro

22:04

sales were in decline, and

22:06

GM stopped production of the Camaro in

22:08

2003. But in 2006, GM began redesigning

22:10

the Camaro, and the director of

22:17

Transformers, Michael Bay, wanted GM to let

22:19

him use the new Camaro in the

22:21

film, but that car

22:24

wasn't available yet. So

22:26

Bay used a vintage Camaro

22:28

instead. That yellow

22:30

Camaro, called Bumblebee in the

22:33

film, became a fan favorite.

22:35

As a result, over 10% of new Camaros sold

22:38

in North America were

22:41

yellow, more than double

22:43

the usual rate. Becoming

22:45

involved in the movies was a

22:48

smart strategic decision by GM. The

22:50

movies appealed to people 18 to 34, and

22:54

GM wanted to reach more car

22:56

buyers in that age bracket. The

22:59

2014 Chevrolet Camaro, performance that

23:01

will transform your everyday. GM

23:05

sold about 60,000 Camaros

23:07

prior to Transformers, and

23:10

consistently sold over 80,000 after

23:12

the movies were released, outperforming

23:15

rival Mustang through to 2014. The

23:27

Marvel Universe has joined forces with

23:29

the Audi Universe. It

23:32

all began with Iron Man in 2008, when

23:35

Tony Stark drove up in a brand new

23:37

Audi R8. In Iron

23:39

Man 2, he drove an Audi

23:41

R8 Spider, and in

23:44

Iron Man 3, Stark rolled up

23:46

in an Audi R8 e-tron. It

23:49

was a good match. The movie

23:51

was about a technically advanced hero, and

23:54

the newest R8 was the most technically

23:56

advanced car in the Audi lineup. resulted

24:00

in a 30% increased brand

24:02

awareness for Audi, and

24:04

sales have increased every single

24:07

year since Audi and Marvel

24:09

shook hands in 2008. The

24:11

collaboration also produced cross-promotional

24:13

posters, comic books, commercials,

24:17

and even short films, like

24:19

the very funny Stan Lee

24:21

Cameo School short film directed

24:23

by Kevin Smith. As

24:26

Marvel fans know, Stan Lee

24:28

made small cameo appearances in

24:31

over 20 Marvel movies. He

24:34

played tiny roles like a bartender, a

24:36

security guard, and even man

24:39

drinking from bottle. In

24:42

this short film, Stan Lee pulls

24:44

up in his Audi, walks into

24:47

his Cameo School, then teaches actors

24:49

how to deliver tiny innocuous cameo

24:51

appearances. I didn't get to be

24:54

the world's greatest cameo actor overnight.

24:56

It took years of hard work.

24:59

Again, the entire film was

25:01

produced by Audi. The

25:12

presence of a car brand in a hit

25:15

movie can be very valuable to a car

25:17

company. But the actual

25:19

cars that star in the movies

25:21

can also become incredibly valuable. Like

25:24

this great story. Steve

25:26

McQueen drove a green Mustang in the classic

25:28

1968 movie Bullet. It features one of

25:33

the best car chase scenes ever filmed.

25:36

It is revered by car fanatics,

25:38

and McQueen did a lot of

25:40

the stunt driving himself. But

25:42

the Mustang he drove in that movie vanished.

25:46

It topped the list of the most sought-after

25:48

movie cars, but nobody knew

25:50

where it was. Mustang

25:53

aficionados speculated on its

25:55

whereabouts for over four

25:57

decades. As

26:01

it turns out, a man named Bob Kiernan

26:04

had purchased that Mustang in 1974. He

26:08

had simply answered a classified ad in

26:10

the back of Road and Track magazine

26:12

that said, 1968

26:15

Bullet Mustang driven by Steve McQueen in

26:17

the movie Bullet. British

26:20

Racing Green, 4-speed, new tires,

26:22

19,000 miles, mint condition. Can

26:26

be documented best offer.

26:30

So Kiernan bought the Mustang for $6,000 to

26:33

use as the family car in Madison,

26:35

New Jersey. The

26:37

following year, the family moved to

26:40

Nashville. Kiernan got a company

26:42

car, so his school teacher

26:44

wife drove the Mustang as a daily

26:46

driver for the next five years. Then

26:50

the car developed a clutch issue and was

26:52

parked in their barn in 1980. Kiernan

26:56

and his son Sean worked on the

26:58

Mustang as a weekend project over the

27:01

years, but never finished the job. Then

27:04

Bob Kiernan passed away in 2014

27:06

and the car just stayed in

27:08

the barn untouched for

27:11

four more years. Then

27:15

along came a coincidence that

27:17

changed everything. Sean

27:22

Kiernan was an automotive paint salesman and

27:24

was driving back from a sales call

27:27

with his new boss who was from

27:29

out of town. They

27:31

were talking about cars. When

27:33

Sean mentioned he had inherited a car

27:35

from his father, he said it was

27:37

a 1968 Mustang GT390

27:39

Fastback. His

27:43

boss asked him what color it was. Sean

27:45

said green. That

27:47

sounds like the famous bullet Mustang, his

27:50

boss said. He

28:00

told Shawn about a script he was shopping

28:02

around Hollywood about two 18-year-old kids who

28:05

find the bullet Mustang in a barn,

28:07

plan to sell it for a fortune,

28:10

but bad guys arrive, steal

28:12

the Mustang, then mayhem in a

28:14

car chase ensue. After

28:18

his boss finished telling him the screenplay

28:20

idea, he asked Shawn how close his

28:22

Mustang was to the original bullet Mustang.

28:26

Shawn said, damn near exactly like it.

28:28

As a matter of fact, he admitted, the

28:31

car you're talking about, the one that's

28:33

been lost forever, is sitting in my

28:35

barn. I've got it. His

28:39

boss sat there, dumbfounded.

28:45

It was a crazy,

28:47

unbelievable coincidence. Shawn's

28:49

boss excitedly asked to see the car,

28:52

and there it was, in pieces,

28:54

in Shawn's barn. But

28:56

the VIN numbers matched up, and Shawn

28:59

even had a letter from Steve McQueen,

29:01

dated 1977,

29:03

asking his father if he would sell the Mustang

29:05

back to him. Shawn's

29:08

boss could hardly breathe. He

29:11

asked if he could use the car to secure

29:13

funding for his movie. Shawn

29:15

said the car needed to be reassembled first.

29:18

It took five months to put the Mustang

29:20

back together. As

29:22

fate would have it, just as Shawn

29:25

tightened the last bolt on the Mustang,

29:27

Ford made an announcement. It

29:30

was about to unveil a new

29:32

bullet special edition Mustang, as

29:35

it was the 50th anniversary of the

29:37

bullet movie. That's

29:39

when Shawn decided to contact the

29:41

company. Ford

29:44

was more than interested, and

29:46

wanted to include the original long-lost

29:48

McQueen bullet Mustang in its 2018

29:51

Detroit Auto Show launch of the

29:54

new bullet Mustang production model. Ford

29:57

asked Shawn how much insurance he had on the

29:59

Mustang. Mustang and Sean said, none.

30:03

It had just been sitting in

30:06

his family's barn for years as

30:08

an unfinished project. The

30:10

car was actually worth millions.

30:16

To keep the unveiling of the

30:18

McQueen Mustang a surprise until the

30:20

auto show, the car was spirited

30:22

to a secret location deep inside

30:25

Ford's product development complex. Not

30:28

long after, the day finally arrived.

30:31

The new green Mustang Bullet Tribute

30:33

Car was launched at the Detroit

30:35

Auto Show, unveiled by

30:37

Molly McQueen, Steve's granddaughter.

30:40

Then she pulled back the cover

30:42

on a second Mustang, the

30:45

original green Steve McQueen

30:47

Bullet Car. The

30:50

assembled automotive press, car fanatics,

30:52

and Ford executives all went

30:55

crazy. The auto

30:57

world's most sought after mystery

30:59

car had finally resurfaced. And

31:03

all it took was sheer luck,

31:05

fortuitous timing, and a

31:07

cosmic coincidence of epic proportions.

31:19

Cars and Hollywood both emerged in

31:21

the early 1900s and

31:24

grew up in tandem. They've

31:26

made a great team ever since. Placing

31:29

car brands in movies and television

31:31

shows makes for great storylines, and

31:34

it sells a lot of cars for

31:36

manufacturers. That Ford

31:39

Studio Car Loan plan, going back

31:41

to the Quinn Martin productions, has

31:43

paid off. Ford is

31:46

the runaway leader in Hollywood, with more

31:48

than 30,000 appearances

31:50

in movies and TV shows,

31:52

more than tripling the appearances

31:54

of the second place brand,

31:56

Chevrolet. Sometimes,

31:58

a lot of money. money changes hands

32:01

in return for automotive product placement.

32:03

Other times, the loan of the vehicles is

32:06

the payment. The studio gets

32:08

use of the cars. The

32:10

car company gets global on-screen

32:12

exposure. And

32:14

when the movie is part of a

32:16

franchise like Marvel or the Bond series,

32:19

car manufacturers get to show

32:21

off their latest model in

32:23

each successive sequel, turning like

32:26

into lust. It's

32:28

one of the best ways to drive

32:30

sales when

32:32

you're under the influence. I'm

32:35

Terry O'Reilly. This

32:42

episode was recorded in the

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Terrestrial Airstream mobile recording studio.

32:47

Producer, Debbie O'Reilly. Sound engineer,

32:49

Jeff Devine. Under the

32:52

Influence theme by Ari Posner and Ian

32:54

Lefevre. Tunes provided by

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And if you'd like to

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read next week's fun fact,

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follow the prompts. See

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you next week. Hi, I'm

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