DEUCE OF SPADES hotrod movie - photos and updates

That's my guess too

 

Actually, the photos are of TWO train stations, they are quite a ways away from each other but both in So CAL. I will probably shoot at both and the edits will be seamless because both stations look so cohesive and identical in looks and colors.

Ah the magic of film making ...

 

My nipples are exploding with delight.

 

The train station is in Santa Susana........sgtlethargic should recognize this one.....close to home.

 

READ THIS POST IT IS FUNNY !!

Well I had an EXCITING afternoon - to say the very least. I got off of work at 4PM hopped in the jalopy and headed home taking ventura Blvd. It's rush hour but the traffic is moving OK. So far so good.

I park on the side of Ventura and get out to go at the ATM to get some cash. I hop back in the Deuce and turn the key and hit the starter button and NOTHING. That was no surprise, been there done that/ I give it a few more tries, still NOTHING. So I figure it's time for the screw driver trick. But first let's check and make sure nothing is lose under the dash. I reach up, shake a few wires and unbeknownst to me the 'LOCKAR' shifter is a 'CAN'T LOCK WORTH A SHIT' shifter. I am completely unaware that while reaching under the dash my elbow might have lightly grazed the shifter and that the car is now in REVERSE (you already know where this is going, don't you? )

So I get out, get my screwdriver, turn the ignition key and put the screwdriver to the starter. After a couple tries the roadster fires up.

AND THEN IT STARTS TAKING OFF. Yop, backwards, in a diagonal, it's heading on it's lonesome for the middle of Ventura Blvd



I'm like OH SHIT! Of course I could have played it safe and just watched it drive away, and simply wave at it goodbye and say:

"Well, it WAS a nice roadster and it WAS fun while it lasted!"

But instead I went SAVE THE DEUCE OF SPADES

and so I ran after it, opened the passenger side door and managed to hop in it while it was driving backwards and heading towards oncoming traffic. And now I am inside the runaway jalopy as a PASSENGER and I am on the WRONG side so I can't step on the brakes. There's the hand brake but it doesn't work worth a shit so it is pointless to even try. So now here I am on my hands and knees, trying to reach the brake pedal with one hand and press as hard as I can while trying to shift with the other to go back to park. Neither hands are doing a great job by the way and I have no idea where the roadster is going since I am head down and facing the wrong way

A few more yards and I finally slow it down enough that I am able to shift it. It comes to a halt, I jump up and jump behind the wheels and immediately shift back into first and go back to the side of the road. Park and take a deep breath.



Sheeesh... That was close. I almost lost the deuce today and I know God loves me because at 4PM Ventura is crazy and I should have slammed into oncoming traffic but I was unharmed and so was the deuce. It so happen that my ordeal coincided with a tiny traffic break and no cars were coming during my wild backwards ride.

I had a pretty big jolt of adrenalin and started laughing it off and then told the deuce: "don't you EVER, EVER do that to me AGAIN".

Mental note: Next time I jump start my roadster - MAKE SURE IT IS IN GODDAMN PARK AND THAT THE NON EFFICIENT EMMERGENCY BRAKES ARE ON.

I don't think I will forget this small detail from this day on.

PS: I hope you got a good laugh from this TRUE story. And please be NICE I do have a lockar shifter and it should have never gotten out of park. Guess it is time to replace it.

 

Get a Gennie shifter. Lokar has had problems like that. Harbor Run was good, sorry you missed it, brought some Aussie magizines for you.

 

thats some funny shit right there..........

 

too bad you didnt get that on film!

 

nope didnt get to read it all ihave read some of it now . not much into drama , but i will reserve judgement as you seem to be getting the car stuff right and no hollyweird b.s. scripted fake "lingo" . im sorry if i seem cynical but much of what has been done is just garbage . the fact that you are on here and into cars bodes well. might be somethin' i can take the wife too and tune out the drama {got good at that} and tune back in to see the good stuff {the cars etc. } . i wish you the best of luck and may the gods smile on you and this be the start of a great and exciting career for you . oh and yeah i wasn't hoping for an action film , just something thats "real " not bastardized by the film industry . we shall see !

 

First I'm trying to picture you running after it ...it's in a reverse mode....heading for traffic...to open the door and manage to get in? YOU should be the stunt girl in the movie. I really don't think I could have pulled that trick off.

 

Yop, good thing I had swapped my high heels for my saddle shoes to drive!
And yeah, WHERE IS A CAMERAMAN WHEN YOU NEED ONE???

 

Same here, I'd be willing to pre-order if it will help finance the project. Are you interested in investors? Taking a chance on another "cashing in on the scene" remark, but sounds like something worth gambling on.

Ray

 

Faith Thanks for the Guide info! The U Tube video is Cool.

The Action Photos Very Cool

 

what lots of people don't know, shut it off, fuel handle or switch. ott, would have died laughing if i had been a witness. lol. good luck.

 

UPDATES:

Today I created a really nice calendar to help raise funds for the movie. I put the very best photos and quotes from the movie. This will be a limited edition.

It looks something like this:



You can see the rest of the pages (and buy the calendar) here:

http://www.cafepress.com/deuceofspades.169919936

It would sure look good on your garage wall so I hope a few of you guys might feel inclined to buy it. This is for those of you who don't feel comfortable donating funds and getting "nothing", so now you can get a beautiful calendar in return for your contribution. Note though that I only get a portion of the sale price, but it can add up fast if many order.

I also added, while I was on a roll, a bunch more merchandizing stuff, including all kinds of T-shirts for dudes, chicks and kids and even one for Fido . Also, tank tops and sweaters... There's also baseball caps, notebooks, magnets, mugs, bags a cool wall clock... You get the idea... So anyone can find something they need or want and it helps me raise dragstrip funds.

Of course, the most efficient way to contribute remains to donate funds directly to me because I then get 100%, but if you or your gal could use a nice T-shirt with a cool roadster on it, then go for it! Every bit helps!

Here is the store address:

http://www.cafepress.com/deuceofspades

Cafepress handles everything for me, so I can keep focussing on casting, scouting, filming, editing, promoting. From what I understand they accept returns and exchanges. If anyone orders and has any problems (poor quality, crappy service etc...) please let me know right away by PMing me.

I keep my fingers crossed this will help raise more funds.

Now I am off to El Mirage for the SCTA time trails. I'll be doing some more filming there and most importantly will be scouting the abandonned airstrip I intend to try to get for the SAUGUS DRAGSTRIP scene.

WISH ME LUCK!

See you all on Monday.

 

Sorry the calendar photo did not come out for some reason: Let's try it again

 

How 'bout some input on the stuff at cafepress...what ya think guys?

 

if i had been on the driver's side i would have had a lot of options (like turning the key off, braking, etc...)

A friend of mine last Friday pointed out to me that

I COULD HAVE GOTTEN RUN OVER BY MY OWN CAR because I have no fenders. It never even dunned on me. As I was running trying to open the passenger door and jump in it while it was moving, if I had missed I could have gotten runover by my front right tire....
I guess the DOS must love me cause he was nice to me.
Also it's a good thing when I was firing up the car with the screw driver that I was standing BACK because of the sparks, otherwise the front tire WOULD have run over my footsie...

HOTRODS... GOTTA LOVE 'EM !

 

HaHaHaHaHaHaHa... wait! What the?!?!
I think I just wet myself.
Oh great! Thanks a lot Faith. Thanks a lot!

 

BACK FROM EL MIRAGE DRY LAKE SCTA MEET MORE DIRTY THAN I EVER WAS

UPDATES:

Woke up saturday at 3AM, packed up my shtuff and hauled my trailer to the dry lake bed. Weather was nice and the event was as awesome as always. It was good to see familiar faces again and hang out with the boys. This is the third time I film there and by now everyone knows me. Once again I got to sit on the starter stools, kid around with them, film them, and drink their water hehe. They sure take good care of me. I was there when every cool roadster, streamliner and bellytanker took off, eating their dust and having my ears ring from their open headers as they stormed off.

This trip, I filmed everything hand held with my figrig (WHATZAT YOU ASK?). A figrig is a weird device that looks just like a steering wheel and on which you affix your camera. You then use it pretty much like a steering wheel but what it does is help stabilize the camera as you do floaty moves, pans, crane up etc...

Everyone there kept asking me: "hey, where the rest of your car?' To which I smiled and said: "I was going too fast, it all blew to pieces and I was left with the steering wheel in my hands. That's all that's left of it" They all got a good laugh out of that one .

I was then invited into the tower at the finish line. there I filmed some more, communication between the two towers, computer system that records timing and sends timing slips print outs etc... I had a bird's eye view of the cars racing down the lake. But the course was covered with a layer of dust clouds and it was hard to see the cars.

I then got to ride with Pete Prentice to the local airport we are wanting to get for the film. I will post photos below. It looks AWESOME! I sure hope the lady will want to help us out and let us have it for cheap... There is nothing there that doesn't look 1955. heck, behind the one and only structure there (a small house and plane hangar) I even found a (get this!) VINTAGE FULL SIZE FIRE TRUCK! And (are you sitting?) there is even a TREE. yep, a single tree that I can use to shoot for the crash scene.

I must be the luckiest gal on the planet.

Now we cross our fingers and pray that she might consider letting us shoot there. I hear that it has rented for lotsa $$ to movie studios in the past and they probably spent up to $5000 a day to get it. I need for 3 days and only have $1,500. So here again it woud take a miracle to pull this one off. But miracles are what this film is made of so I am going to give it a shot. All she can say is NO WAY. And nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Saturday night got to meet mr. Deist, the man who makes all the parachutes for the cars. he's really nice and is going to loan us a vintage shoot to cover the DOS in the first flashback scene in the movie . Cool. I also met Wendy, who is editor of the BONNEVILLE RACING NEWS publication. she's a neat lady really into dog training so her and I had a lot in common.

Sunday I ran into a huge dust storm, the wind made it near impossible to close my trailer door at time. Filming became difficult but I did it all day anyway. I came home dirtier than I have ever been in my life, something about the fine dust from the desert, combined with high winds and sweat from heat. Boy was I crusty! Even my dogs didn't recognise me when I walked in the front door! But it's not like a little dirt scares me so bring it on!

All in all, an awesome week-end packed with action, drop dead gorgeous cars, nice people and breathtaking sights. PLUS I had a nice, unexpected surprise as I was leaving El Mirage, but more on that tomorrow

PHOTOS:

Here at morning SCTA safety inspection, checking out the cool machines that are pulling in.






Jim Miller who is my Historical consultant for the film as well as first AD is, as always, inspecting cars for the SCTA for the whole duration of the event. check out the cool louvers on this 1932 roadster.








There is Jim, signing off on this beautiful machine from Chico, CA






Pete Prentice the fastest ever man at El Mirage [ he broke and still holds the EL MIRAGE SPEED RECORD: 315 mph ] was kind enough to take some time to show me the potential Saugus dragstrip location.





here is a shot taken from teh very end of the strip, looking towards the West to where the start line would be. there is a HUGE area that could easily fit 500 cars behind the start line. there is also plenty of room to park cars up and down the airstrip. All in All? THE PERFECT location. It is privately owned and not currently used, so no air traffic. It is quiet and out of the way of any road, traffic, freeways, modern houses, buildings etc... In short it is a small universe cought in a timewarp, and I found it! (with a little help from my friends)



compare with the real Saugus dragstrip (which was demolished and of which NOTHING remains today) - As you can see it was pretty bare, with what appears to be a small structure and some trees in the middle of the strip, but nothing else. So i think we are fairly close, looks wise (no concrete walls, no large structures etc...)




And LOOKIE LOOKIE what i found hiding behind the building??

 

sounds like you had a blast.........Kyle


http://video.google.com/videoplay?d...895&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=6

 

You guys heading to BBB this friday? I'll be there!

 

That's funny stuff! Too bad you couldn't use that in the movie some how. It would be a good laugh for the audience. All I can say to make it better would be you diving head-first into the cockpit. Keep up the good work. Question: If a guy has already sent in a donation, what's the possibility of getting a calender? Love ya!

 

I'm on my lunch so I didn't have time to read this whole thread... but I just want to say a couple things:

1. Your new web site design looks 100,000% better-- looks more like it's being done by someone who has the passion for this project that I've been seeing in your posts on the HAMB. The old one made your film look like this week's fad for some high schooler... something this project is obviously NOT.

2. I know I'm not the first to say this, but seeing your passion for getting this film done is absolutely inspiring. Keep up the good work.

 

Hey Slide, thanks for the encouragements. The main difference between the first version of the site and the current one is three pro photoshoots and about 60 hours worth of photo manipulation and graphic design work , which was 60 hours I did not have to spare when I first started the project. Plus I was lacking the photos at the time. At the time, I whipped up and launched a website in one day just so I could have internet presence and so that people could find basic info on the film. I knew it was only very temporary, just to get me by for a couple months. I was still writing the script at the time, and had no spare time to do anything else really. Plus as I said had no pro photos yet.

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I figured that was what was going on... I wasn't trying to go dissin' on your stuff--- I was just trying to say that the new stuff represents what you're doing so much more effectively. I think visitors to your site will take you much more seriously now... it was 60 hours well-spent, IMO.

I can't wait to see this film...

 

hey Aman, shoot me a PM about this, thanks !

 

UPDATES:

GOOD NEWS!

We have DINNER! It's official, there WILL be a dinner scene in the film. Hey, can't have a hotrod film without a dinner scene, right? Right. So now the dinner has been donated and I am VERY happy.


PHOTOS

A few more shots of Cody and Kyle at El Mirage.

Ooops.. hide the radials




Dirty, but proud



Don't worry I was dirtier than him and I didn't even have to lay in the dirt under a car to get that way



What, young hotrodders and not covered in tattoes? Pinch me, I must be dreaming... (hey, not that I have anything against tattoes, I like them just fine, but hotrodders in 1955 weren't covered with them, as a matter of fact most did not have ANY - hence the dilemma)



OK, see you all in a couple days!

 

Familiar looking places.

The high school - both my daughters graduated from there.

The lemon packing plant in the bottom pic is right up the street (Sespe Ave) from where we used to live.


Fwiw, one town to the east on Hwy 126 is Piru.
They have a very old, probably 30's vintage grammar school there.
The train depot may still be standing.

To get to the grammar school go north on the road that's a semi-major intersection with Hwy 126 - there are stoplights - the intersecton is just beyond the 4 lane bridge on 126.

Cross the RR tracks and go to the 4 way stop intersection in town.
Should be an old grocery store on the N/E corner.
Turn left - west - go about a mile to the end of the road where the grammar school is.

There have been a lot of moves filmed in Piru - as well as the town where the DOS roadster is sitting in front of the high school - so you should be able to find a lot of locations.

There's a short bit of a little used straight 2 lane county road below Piru dam that could be useful.
Follow the signs out of town to the N/E toward the dam.

The dam may be from the mid 50's or so, we did a lot of fishing at the dam and on Piru Lake in the early 60's.

As well as tried out a fuel flathead dragster on the abovementioned road.
Initial fireup and all that.

The dam keeper came down to chase us off, but got interested in the little dragster and stuck around to help.
It's the dragster mentioned in the CHR book that was almost involved in getting run over by Stone, Woods and Cook 41 Willy's gasser.

The pics you show for the Saugus Dragstrip location look very good.
Few HAMB'rs have actually been at the strip and fewer still ran it....

 

Hey HiboyGirl, PM sent. I wanted to let you know that I was at a used book store last week that sells old cd's and tapes (movies) and found a movie called Hot Rod Girl. It was made back in the 50s and is in black and white. I thought of you immediately. The movie has hot rods, resturant scene, love, tragedy, cops(Chuck Conners from the Rifleman), drag race and street race scenes, houses of the era along with clothes, gas stations, etc. It right up your alley. I don't know if you have seen it or not but I thought it would help you in trying to capture the feeling of the time cuz it was made back then. If you want, I can see if one of my sons can copy it somehow and mail it to you. I'm no computer guru so I have to enlist the younger generation to make it happen. Just let me know if you need it, like I said, I'll be happy to send you a copy. Well, I've got to finish polishing some valve covers for my A so I better get to work. Stay in touch and "ACTION". Do you say that?