Hollywood Cars Museum (aka Hot Rod City and Liberace Garage) has moved locations a number of times; but it is now located just south of the Interstate-15 Tropicana Exit in Las Vegas. The complex is kind of a hodge-podge of movie cars, reproductions, custom built cars, hot rods, motorcycles, scooters, and one section of the museum is dedicated to Liberace. For guys who bring their wives that are not the least bit interested in the automotive world, there is a ladies "seating area" where women can relax in large custom made bucket seats and look at Elvis on a George Barris "Versa Trike" while waiting for their husbands. The Versa Trike's center of gravity is toward the back of the trike, so when the driver pops the clutch, the trike does a wheelie. The trike is used for parades and the kids love to watch it travel down the street on the rear two wheels. Also located in the lobby is a "Liberace Piano Hot Rod." A Grand piano was placed on top of a "T" chassis with a beasty Chevy 350 engine, so the driver can sit behind the piano and play music while driving down the street. According to a museum docent, the Piano hot rod was built after Liberace died and was never owned by Liberace, so the hot rod is not located in the Liberace Garage.
I think every automotive museum in the country has at least one vehicle that was used in a Fast & Furious movie. There is also a stunt car from Starsky and Hutch, the original Coyote stunt car that was used in the Hardcastle and McCormic television series, and the original 1947 Desoto Taxi from the movie The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
But not every museum has a "Skate Car," or a replica of the Beverly Hillbillies jalopy. When the museum was moving the jalopy from California to Las Vegas on a flatbed truck, Granny's rocking chair accidentally fell off the back of the truck, landed on the freeway, and broke into a number of pieces. Fortunately, other motorist saw the accident, stopped the truck driver, and they were able to pick up enough pieces to reconstruct the rocker.
A placard by the side of the Dukes of Hazzard 1969 Dodge Charger General Lee stated that this was the stunt car that made a jump of 150 feet in front of city hall. The car was totaled after the jump and had to be completely rebuilt, including new body panels, then the vehicle toured with the Hazzard County Stunt Team to numerous events.
Batman was represented in the museum with the Batcycle and a Batmobile from the Batman TV show, and a Batmobile from the Batman Returns movie.
I did not ever see the movie Porkey 2, but the pink Hudson was on display in the museum.
Bond, James Bond, was well represented with a BSA A65 Lightning motorcycle that was fitted with machine guns and used in the movie Thunderball, a replica of the Flying AMC Matador Coupe from The Man With The Golden Gun, one of the Lotus Esprit Submarine Cars (six built for the movie) from The Spy Who Loved Me, a replica of the BD-5 Microjet used in Octopussy, the Land Rover from Skyfall, and the Renault 11 Turbo Taxi used in A View To A Kill.
Also on display were a Knight Industries Two Thousand (Kitt Clone) 1983 Pontiac Firebird as used in Knight Rider, a reproduction of the Delorean used in Back to the Future, a recreation of the Chitty Racer from Chitty Chity Bang Bang, the actual stunt van used in A-Team, a mock-up of Doc Hudson from the animated Disney film Cars, a Herbie reproduction, a reproduction of Grandpa Munster's Dragula Coffin-Mobile, and the death car used in the movie Bonnie & Clyde. (The actual death car is on display in Whiskey Pete's Hotel/Casino in Primm, and there are a number of reproductions of the death car located in museums around the country.)
For aquatic enthusiast, the actual lifeboat that was used in the movie Captain Phillips is on display.
The stretched pink Limo, as seen in various movies and advertisements, is equipped with a red heart-shaped hot tub and is longer than it appears in pictures.
Also on display were some Flintstone vehicles, miscellaneous vehicles for youth, a snow mobile from GI Joe, Rise of the Cobra, and a collection of motorcycles, and all types of scooters.
And, in a separate part of the museum was the Liberace collection, featuring some of Lee's cars, clothes, and one of his many pianos.
Liberace's 1961 Phantom V Rolls Royce (Only 7 of this model were made with the retractable landau top and this is the only one in the world with left-hand drive.) This is the actual car used in the movie Behind the Candelabra.
Liberace loved cars and had several of his cars mirrored and/or painted with flamboyant colors, including his 1952 Bicentennial Rolls Royce that was used as a prop when he wore his Red Jumpsuit and played "Stars and Stripes Forever. The car was loaned to Radio City Music Hall in New York City for the 100th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty.
During the 1970's gas crises, Liberace wanted to do his part to save gas, so he had a custom-built VW Bug (called a "VolksRolls") that he used for transportation. He had it painted pink to match one his pink-feathered costumes. The car is still used for parades.
Another one of Lee's fuel-efficient cars was a custom-built Bradley GT that was built on a Volkswagen chassis, but patterned after a Gull-Wing Mercedes Benz.
Liberace's "Rinestone Roadster" was adorned with thousands of rhinestones to mach his Ice Blue Costume and Rhinestone Baldwin Grand Piano.
The Model A Ford replica was built on a Ford chassis with a Mustang V-8 engine and was used at the Las Vegas Hilton to Chauffeur Liberace on-stage while he sat in the rumble seat dressed in a Red Jumpsuit and a White Ostrich-Feathered Cape.
No comments:
Post a Comment