Jive-Bomber submitted a new blog post: The Cars of 'Rebel Without a Cause'... Continue reading the Original Blog Post
That Dean black Merc must have rode like a boat in ocean swells. Several scenes in "Rebel" show it rockin' and rollin' when he quick stopped or did a curve. Still, it was a cool look back then, as a kid i always wanted a '50 Merc for my ride--never to be.
As a teenager I thought that movie was the best ever coming out of Hollywood, seems if you grew up in that era you can relate to someone who characterized the at***ude of James Dean, be it intentional or coincidence.
I first watched it as a little snot nosed kid in about 1983 or so. Absolutely fell in love with it. I ***ociated with the coupe that went over the cliff (my dad has a 47 Merc Coupe) and especially Dean's Merc. I built an identical 1/25 scale model that was a mirror clone of that Merc. Really love this clip you found!! It would have added to the movie for myself, haha! I remember the chopped 40(?) coupe as well, more specifically as it's scurrying away after the chicky run scene.
The chopped '40 is at the Chicken Run. It is parked on the left side 3rd car in when they are staging the race and is the first car to take off afterwards.
What a great scene. The Merc in this film was perfect in my eyes. Slight cowboy rake, nosed, decked and black.
Maybe a little weird, but if you don't look at the "star" cars in some of those traffic and drive in scenes and just look at the "supporting cars" you'll see some really neat looking iron. The street scenes where they drive down the avenue shows some "traffic" and parked cars that are def. cool. I imagine a call went out when they filmed the movie for cars to show up as supporting cast. To say "my car was in the movie---" would probably last a rodders lifetime.
Modern times photo of the car here: https://public.fotki.com/Rikster/11.../rebel-without-a-cau/oldtimers1989_0001t.html
One of my favorite all time movies. The film has a certain feeling to It that just pulls you in, like you are there.
Super cool. The outside shots of Dawson High were filmed at Santa Monica High School. Inside shots were taken at John Marshall High School in LA. The three young stars died young and tragically; Dean in a horrific car crash, Mineo stabbed (in the heart) to death during a mugging and Wood in a convoluted drowning.
Thanks for posting this thread. I have a couple of other photos of this car, including some build photos. BTW, That chopped and channeled 40 was also in Hot Rod Girl, but that film was black & white. The second to the last photo is 21 year old Larry Nicklin, the day he purchased the 40 from a used car lot, the last photo is Larry proudly posing next to his completed custom, it was black for only a year, he repainted it a custom mix coral red. I was fortunate to become close friends with Mr. Nicklin, he shared some funny stories related to this car.
Current state. I have a pair of 49 Plymouth bumpers planned to mount to get it closer to the original appearance. 
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