Car Nuts & Gearheads of UM Assemble: Let's talk about the cars of UM

[Or So It Seems]

If you are a car nut you notice things about the way UM used vehicles in the re-enactments that might go unnoticed by most other viewers. I'm thinking of:

• How when UM showed the burning of Angelo Desidari's Cadillac, they burned a Buick instead, and put a Cadillac emblem on it.
• How eyewitnesses would frequently misidentify the make and model of cars.
• With Tracy Wofford Bunn, the boyfriend said her car's gearshift broke off; in the re-enactment UM just sawed it off. It was never clear how it broke.
• UM used a lot of classic muscle cars like GTO's and even a C3 Corvette (Rock Creek Gang) in the segments.
• UM paid a lot of attention to detail with vehicles, making sure they were correct for the historical segments.

Any other car nuts here? Any other observations about the cars of UM? I find it quite fun to see vehicles in the segments that you never see on the roads today.

[dynoguy88]

I wouldn’t call myself a car nut but I liked how accurate they were with Gary Simmons’ Lincoln Continental and Charles Morgan’s Mercury Cougar.

I love cars from the 70’s and 80’s. They’re so much nicer to look at than cars of today.

[Or So It Seems]

I forgot about Chuck Morgan's mid-70's Mercury Cougar. The UM production team went to great lengths to make the segments as realistic/accurate as possible (even if they left stuff out).

[Zero]

Originally Posted by Or So It Seems

If you are a car nut you notice things about the way UM used vehicles in the re-enactments that might go unnoticed by most other viewers. I'm thinking of:

• How when UM showed the burning of Angelo Desidari's Cadillac, they burned a Buick instead, and put a Cadillac emblem on it.
• How eyewitnesses would frequently misidentify the make and model of cars.
• With Tracy Wofford Bunn, the boyfriend said her car's gearshift broke off; in the re-enactment UM just sawed it off. It was never clear how it broke.
• UM used a lot of classic muscle cars like GTO's and even a C3 Corvette (Rock Creek Gang) in the segments.
• UM paid a lot of attention to detail with vehicles, making sure they were correct for the historical segments.

Any other car nuts here? Any other observations about the cars of UM? I find it quite fun to see vehicles in the segments that you never see on the roads today.

I'm a car nut. I like the segment of that guy who was selling his 90's Nissan sports car when the "buyer" attacked him and shot him in the leg. I wish they had shown more of the car than of the crime and the victim. Whatever happened with that case anyway?

Also, the CRX from the Lisa Marie Kimmel segment. I remember when that car came out. A few of my neighbors bought them and I've ALWAYS loved them. It's always been one of my dream cars to have. Particularly the 90 or 91 Si, in black. They're impossible to find these days.

The Toyota Camry seen in the Blair Adams segment. Those Camry's were bullet proof!

And the Huey Long segment... Always wondered how hard it was for UM to secure that many cars from the 30's.

[VHSJunkie]

The little truck Jeremy Rolfs used to deliver the computer to the supposed Tom Johnson and the truck with the fish decal driven by Angela Hammond abductor

[Charlie99909]

Let’s talk about in a season 1 update they show an apartment complex with some 70’s Chevy vans in the parking lot. One has a bubble window in the shape of the Chevy bow tie. As someone who deals in vintage van parts, those are rare windows.

[Killarney Rose]

I remember seeing a segment(don’t remember which one) but as I was watching, the subjects were driving 70s model cars down a city street. As I was sitting there impressed by that, I noticed all the background traffic was all 90s vehicles.

[dynoguy88]

In the Henderson, Nevada bank robbery segment, Katherine Scott (“I can take his picture, but he’ll shoot me!”) she’s driving an ‘85 Crown Victoria.’

My mom drove that car when I was a kid. Ours was silver.

[ghosthouse]

Originally Posted by Zero

And the Huey Long segment... Always wondered how hard it was for UM to secure that many cars from the 30's.

I'd be willing to bet, if they filmed in or around Los Angeles, that there are plenty of companies that offer "retro services" like cars, wardrobes, appliances, etc... to the entertainment industry.

[rusty spike]

Was watching the swoop and swat episode where crooks were staging accidents involving trucks and semi-trailers around Los Angeles. I noticed during the re-enactment where the truck collides with the red car, the red car was missing its right side headlight and or turning light. Obviously, it was pulled from the wrecked car collection of the TV studio.

[Labonte18]

Originally Posted by Charlie99909

Let’s talk about in a season 1 update they show an apartment complex with some 70’s Chevy vans in the parking lot. One has a bubble window in the shape of the Chevy bow tie. As someone who deals in vintage van parts, those are rare windows.

I would suspect that when they need something like this, they reach out to local car clubs and the like.

So, you probably have a lot of 'collectors' bringing their vehicles in to be used as 'extras'.. So.. To me, it seems you'd probably see a lot of things like this. In addition to vehicles that have things that just didn't appear on production vehicles.

I think back to The Greatest American Hero and the convertible VW Bug. There was something unique about that vehicle. I don't recall what it was, maybe the year they used it wasn't offered as a convertible, but it was totally a car customized for the show. Things like that.. That's things collectors might have or do. And those are likely the people production contacted for period cars.

[Charlie99909]

Originally Posted by Labonte18

I would suspect that when they need something like this, they reach out to local car clubs and the like.

So, you probably have a lot of 'collectors' bringing their vehicles in to be used as 'extras'.. So.. To me, it seems you'd probably see a lot of things like this. In addition to vehicles that have things that just didn't appear on production vehicles.

I think back to The Greatest American Hero and the convertible VW Bug. There was something unique about that vehicle. I don't recall what it was, maybe the year they used it wasn't offered as a convertible, but it was totally a car customized for the show. Things like that.. That's things collectors might have or do. And those are likely the people production contacted for period cars.

Highly doubtful regarding this van. Season one was the late 80’s, which made this van less than 20 years old, probably closer to less than 15 years old. It was a daily driver for these people as it was in an update. For the vehicles in the segments taking place in the 60’s and older, definitely they had car clubs or casting calls for the cars.

[MediaHoarder]

Well cars in UM were generally more stylish than what we have today. Many were in fact better vehicles in many ways as well.

There were some exceptions to this. Some bad post oil crisis econo boxes featured. We all remember the segment with the Ford Pinto, and to this day when I think Pinto I think of that.

I particularly loved the large sedans that were still in use as cop cars in that era, as well as the large luxury sedans that featured in some cases, especially those in Arizona and other retirement states.

[EighthStreet]

That fold down seat Nash from the Audrey Moate segment couldn't have been easy for their team to locate.

[Or So It Seems]

This is all cool stuff, keep it coming!

- in the Christie Mutzfeld segment she drove a red VW Beetle, like a lot of us back in the '80's. You don't see many now. In that same segment I believe Todd Kelly was working on a Corvette when Mafuz Huq visited him.

- the engine in Charlie Sigmin's boat looked like a big block Chevy (hard to tell exactly). Must have been a fast boat

- in the Anita Green segment, the friend/author drives an '80's Chrysler station wagon with the fake wood siding. Those are very rare today and maybe worth more now than Anita's Corvette!