Motion Pictures Hot Rod Spotting in LA 1948

I' ve been enjoying watching this, similar to another one on here a year or two ago also filmed in the same time period. I noticed at about 0:29 on the LHS a model A roadster that has a nice stance. looks like it may have 35 wires, not saying its a rod and it may be the camera angle but looks good.
Few white walls as you would expect for this period. Used to be a huge fan of WWW but thinking more that some cars look better with blackwalls. To finish my useless rant, notice how clean the streets are.
Didn't see rubbish anywhere and as always some great architecture.

 

I saw this and a number of similar videos over the last couple of weeks or so. The YouTube algorithm somehow worked out that theh might be of interest to me. Very clever and useful. I've been enjoying them. Not so useful Youtube ot prompts are certain medical suggestions, and others are likely to get me into deep marital trouble, eg natural wonders.

Chris

 

I dig the 41 Olds 2dr sedan at 1:45. Skirts, dual spots, big single fog light, and 2 huge horns bolted to the top of the drivers front fender.

 

It would be interesting if someone would take the same ride today and film it.
As far as how clean it was back then, you have to remember there was no fast food and mini-marts serving food to go. In paper bags and plastic containers. Also there was a deposit on soda bottles, so they went back to the store. When I walk the road by my home that is what 90% of the litter is.

 

Today's drive would be missing the ambience, that being the Vintage Iron...no comparision...that's why this is so valuable and one of a kind...

The only thing that comes close is an old Hotrod/Custom event heavily ruled for a specific period otherwise it's just a modern mix without any vintage ambience...

 

I'm curious! I was born 4 years before the newest car in the video was made. With your handle of @1oldtimer, and the claim that your mother wasn't born yet, how old are you? Just a question, nothing more.

 

My daughter and I were looking for landmarks in the film and noticed the Paul G. Huffman Studebaker dealership. We looked Paul G. up and found that the dealership was at the corner of Figueroa and Pico, immediately to the northwest of downtown L.A. The 1948 map of L.A. doesn't show what was there but after looking at a current street map, the area has changed a lot.

 

There is a thread here that did show landmarks present and past...but yes many places are timewarps, lots have all but vanished along with almost any history retained...and the cars we all know how disposable they became...it truly is inevitable that Hotrods and Customs made it into this footage but like Today it was slim pickings even then...

 

I'm growing into my name at 51, funny part was me officially joining here at 29 with this name (a few versions ago).

 

This is me in one of my Uncles model A hot rods probably around 1948. In San Diego rather than LA. I have a number of dash plaques from his running the car at El Mirage.

 

Have you done a Thread around your Hamb era roots which are quite evident?...That's one Awesome Hotrod, Ramjet...

 

Awesome to look at the world before I was born... Cool buildings, gas stations and service facilities, the women were in dresses, everyone wore a hat. Thanks for posting this!

 

No I haven’t. I had car Uncles on both sides of the family. Two in San Rafael CA. and two in San Diego. I told my wife it was in my genes and she believes it after 60 cars.

 

I saw two woodie wagons

 

As I watched, I noticed, @ 0:29, on the right side what looked like a G.M. coupe with a Carson type top and low set tail lights... another custom on the street.

 

Hello,

Being from So Cal, it is a wonder that commercial companies don’t do this developing/modifications to all films from back in those times. Even thought the location is Los Angeles from 1948, there were a lot of people that did not have access or even considered having a movie camera. At the time, rangefinder 35mm cameras were around, but were usually priced out of most people’s range.

A movie camera from the studio companies were usually shot in 35mm size. Of course, comparing the standard consumer movie camera in a few years was 16mm, the Hollywood studio film was twice the size. And of course twice the clarity.

Jump up to today's 70mm films being used along with modern digital camera quality and technology has come a long way. But, for film itself, size certainly helps in clarity, image quality. The drawback being the size of the movie camera, prior to the advent of digital cameras.

Having shot with a 35mm movie camera with a professional camera crew, the size of the camera itself was horrendous. It was big, bulky, cost $40,000 and created a sore spot on my shoulder for weeks. But, that lens made images wonderfully large and clear. Today, the digital cameras are small enough to make quality movies as proven by the fascinating artists using only an Iphone.

FILM FORMATS:

“The measure of a gauge refers to the width of a filmstrip, with wider stock providing sharper definition and more detail in the projected image. Most major releases shot on film are printed on 35mm stock.”

“The next rung down is 16mm, a cost-effective alternative intended for low-budget student productions or amateur use. There was a time when use of 16mm was in common in the realm of TV.”

“The lowest gauge of film stock is 8mm, which was cheap enough to produce that it was mainly reserved for home movies and experimental projects.”

Jnaki

The general consumer camera for movies was 16mm at first. Then as the consumer market advanced, most liked the smaller size cameras and the features presented. But, most forgot the quality goes down as the size goes down. We had a new super 8 mm movie camera when our son was born. The images were not top quality despite using the best Kodak Film available. When I watched my color 16mm color drag racing films, there was no comparison.

The individual size of these filmstrips results in the quality, clarity, and detail of the image. Thus, 70mm allows for the crispest image, while 8mm has the fuzziest.

With the advancement in technology, one would have thought that when 8mm films and advanced movie cameras came out, that the images would have been great. But, the tiny size held back clarity and color, even using the best 8mm camera and the variety of Kodak film.

Comparing my old 16mm color films to ones taken with a Super 8mm movie camera were like night and day. We have some super 8mm movies of our toddler son, but the clarity and color looked as if it was taken in the 1800 Western Cowboy days. We could not afford to use the 16mm movie camera due to lack of funds of the film and developing. It was out of our new young family finances. YRMV
1947-48 Long Beach, CA
In 1948, this 1941 Buick Fastback would have been going down those old Los Angeles streets for shopping excursions, looking for the MacArthur Park Lake area, and a great restaurant/diner.

It was a regular in Los Angeles from 1946 to 1949, until our dad got a new 1949 Buick Roadmaster.