COB : Jim Post's eyehook blumo
Nov 22, 2012 7:54:34 GMT -5
Post by sigmfsk on Nov 22, 2012 7:54:34 GMT -5
I used COB as a prefix for "claimed original blumo", which should help me organize these threads before there's a special subforum.
This story has just enough legs to it to be interesting, and just enough funny business with it to be confusing.
I'm going to put down what I've pulled together, but every sentence is really more like a question, asking for verification, so please comment away if things don't sound right.
Here's some info on the car from pages 134, 137:
Dodge, Plymouth & Chrysler Police Cars 1956-1978
History, Engine Options, Police Package Options, Performance Data & More
by Edwin J. Sanow and John L. Bellah
It has the statement "7 of the 8 original bluesmobiles were destroyed in filming". I think we can successfully refute the claim that there were only 8 original blumos, as we have the memo documenting 12 (not including the fall-apart car).
It then says that Jim Post owns the remaining non-destroyed blumo, and has paperwork from Universal Studios to prove it.
It looks like the car was in Jim Posts' Museum until 1997:
From Neums, 2007:
> ...was in Arkansas in a police museum until it was sold about 10 years
> ago. The wherabouts of that car are unknown now, but it had 6 large
> screws sticking out of the roof.
www.bluesbrotherscentral.com/forum/topic/4163-where-are-the-real-bluesmobiles/#entry48701
And that the car in the museum from 1997 to 2004 was NOT the eye-hook car, but a replica:
Here:
www.bluesbrotherscentral.com/forum/topic/4420-the-original-bluesmobile-found/page__st__40#entry54369
Monaco 74 posted a pic of the car from page 119 of
Police Cars
Restoring, Collecting, & Showing
America's Finest Sedans
By Cpl. Edwin Sanow & Sgt. James Post
I provided a higher resolution scan here:
Notice that it doesn't have the eyehooks.
From Neums 2008:
> The car in the Last Pricinct Museum photo is a replica. Jim Post built
> that car for the museum after he sold the original movie car. He never
> claimed that this car was the original, but it was a 440 police package.
> The museum car has since been sold and is now in Germany.
www.bluesbrotherscentral.com/forum/topic/4420-the-original-bluesmobile-found/page__st__60#entry63558
And that the museum closed in 2004:
From Neums, 2007
> I think Jim Post closed the museum in Eureka Springs about three years
> ago. I know he sold all of the cars.
www.bluesbrotherscentral.com/forum/topic/4163-where-are-the-real-bluesmobiles/page__st__20#entry48987
As for where the eyehook blumo went, El-Wood got some info from Jim Post in an e-mail that seemed to explain quite a bit:
From El-Wood 2008:
-----------------------
Ralf, Your story is mostly correct. Here's the real deal: Eighteen years ago I owned a 1974 Monaco that was purchased by the studio with all the others used in the movie.
The real cars were ex-Chicago PD units, most with 360 engines. The 440 engines were added to the stunt cars. The car I had
was painted the Bluesmobile scheme, but never used in the movie and then sold back to the car dealer.
It had full documentation from the used car lot that sold it and a
letter from Dan Aykroyd. I bought the car from a couple guys in Kansas City that did a Blues Brothers routine for parties and parades. It was pretty rough...floorboards rusted through, no brakes, speedometer stuck at 120MPH. I fixed it up and added the correct lettering on the front fenders and push bars.
A couple years later a friend directed me to an ad in Hemmings requesting 1974 Monacos. I was familiar with the advertiser, one Donna Motors in New Jersey. I knew they supplied police cars for movies and TV on the East coast. Dan Aykroyd was just starting to build his House of Blues restaurants and supposedly had contracted with Donna to build several Bluesmobiles. Supposedly they were going to put one in each restaurant as they were
opened. All of this made sense...I knew the company and I knew that Aykroyd lived in New Jersey back then. I contacted them and struck a deal on my car and also found them a couple more 1974's and a couple parts cars too. They sent a flatbed truck and picked up mine and the others and took them back to New Jersey.
That's where the story ends.
I don't know if the deal fell through or what, but the cars were never built. Most House Of Blues do have cars now, but they're bad copies, most not even 1974 models, and not all are Dodges.
I did have a Bluesmobile in my museum (1996-2002) but it was an excellent clone built by a fellow in Indiana. I sold it when we closed the museum and it went to a BB fan in Texas. I built one other Bluesmobile for some BB impersonators and it still sits outside their theatre in Branson, MO.
As far as the real Bluesmobiles they were all shipped to California after filming and crushed. I know Aykroyd did keep one and the letter I had confirmed that. Sadly, I suspect all the original Bluesmmobiles are long gone. On the bright side, however is all the Fords used in BB2000 were sold to collectors and several survive today.
But, like most purists, I think the '74 Monaco will always be the REAL Bluesmobile!
I hope this helps, Jim Post
-----------------------
www.bluesbrotherscentral.com/forum/topic/4420-the-original-bluesmobile-found/page__st__60#entry64008
So it looks like the eyehook blumo went to Donna Motors in New Jersey as part of a plan for them to turn Monacos into blumos for HOB Restaurants.
This story has just enough legs to it to be interesting, and just enough funny business with it to be confusing.
I'm going to put down what I've pulled together, but every sentence is really more like a question, asking for verification, so please comment away if things don't sound right.
Here's some info on the car from pages 134, 137:
Dodge, Plymouth & Chrysler Police Cars 1956-1978
History, Engine Options, Police Package Options, Performance Data & More
by Edwin J. Sanow and John L. Bellah
It has the statement "7 of the 8 original bluesmobiles were destroyed in filming". I think we can successfully refute the claim that there were only 8 original blumos, as we have the memo documenting 12 (not including the fall-apart car).
It then says that Jim Post owns the remaining non-destroyed blumo, and has paperwork from Universal Studios to prove it.
It looks like the car was in Jim Posts' Museum until 1997:
From Neums, 2007:
> ...was in Arkansas in a police museum until it was sold about 10 years
> ago. The wherabouts of that car are unknown now, but it had 6 large
> screws sticking out of the roof.
www.bluesbrotherscentral.com/forum/topic/4163-where-are-the-real-bluesmobiles/#entry48701
And that the car in the museum from 1997 to 2004 was NOT the eye-hook car, but a replica:
Here:
www.bluesbrotherscentral.com/forum/topic/4420-the-original-bluesmobile-found/page__st__40#entry54369
Monaco 74 posted a pic of the car from page 119 of
Police Cars
Restoring, Collecting, & Showing
America's Finest Sedans
By Cpl. Edwin Sanow & Sgt. James Post
I provided a higher resolution scan here:
Notice that it doesn't have the eyehooks.
From Neums 2008:
> The car in the Last Pricinct Museum photo is a replica. Jim Post built
> that car for the museum after he sold the original movie car. He never
> claimed that this car was the original, but it was a 440 police package.
> The museum car has since been sold and is now in Germany.
www.bluesbrotherscentral.com/forum/topic/4420-the-original-bluesmobile-found/page__st__60#entry63558
And that the museum closed in 2004:
From Neums, 2007
> I think Jim Post closed the museum in Eureka Springs about three years
> ago. I know he sold all of the cars.
www.bluesbrotherscentral.com/forum/topic/4163-where-are-the-real-bluesmobiles/page__st__20#entry48987
As for where the eyehook blumo went, El-Wood got some info from Jim Post in an e-mail that seemed to explain quite a bit:
From El-Wood 2008:
-----------------------
Ralf, Your story is mostly correct. Here's the real deal: Eighteen years ago I owned a 1974 Monaco that was purchased by the studio with all the others used in the movie.
The real cars were ex-Chicago PD units, most with 360 engines. The 440 engines were added to the stunt cars. The car I had
was painted the Bluesmobile scheme, but never used in the movie and then sold back to the car dealer.
It had full documentation from the used car lot that sold it and a
letter from Dan Aykroyd. I bought the car from a couple guys in Kansas City that did a Blues Brothers routine for parties and parades. It was pretty rough...floorboards rusted through, no brakes, speedometer stuck at 120MPH. I fixed it up and added the correct lettering on the front fenders and push bars.
A couple years later a friend directed me to an ad in Hemmings requesting 1974 Monacos. I was familiar with the advertiser, one Donna Motors in New Jersey. I knew they supplied police cars for movies and TV on the East coast. Dan Aykroyd was just starting to build his House of Blues restaurants and supposedly had contracted with Donna to build several Bluesmobiles. Supposedly they were going to put one in each restaurant as they were
opened. All of this made sense...I knew the company and I knew that Aykroyd lived in New Jersey back then. I contacted them and struck a deal on my car and also found them a couple more 1974's and a couple parts cars too. They sent a flatbed truck and picked up mine and the others and took them back to New Jersey.
That's where the story ends.
I don't know if the deal fell through or what, but the cars were never built. Most House Of Blues do have cars now, but they're bad copies, most not even 1974 models, and not all are Dodges.
I did have a Bluesmobile in my museum (1996-2002) but it was an excellent clone built by a fellow in Indiana. I sold it when we closed the museum and it went to a BB fan in Texas. I built one other Bluesmobile for some BB impersonators and it still sits outside their theatre in Branson, MO.
As far as the real Bluesmobiles they were all shipped to California after filming and crushed. I know Aykroyd did keep one and the letter I had confirmed that. Sadly, I suspect all the original Bluesmmobiles are long gone. On the bright side, however is all the Fords used in BB2000 were sold to collectors and several survive today.
But, like most purists, I think the '74 Monaco will always be the REAL Bluesmobile!
I hope this helps, Jim Post
-----------------------
www.bluesbrotherscentral.com/forum/topic/4420-the-original-bluesmobile-found/page__st__60#entry64008
So it looks like the eyehook blumo went to Donna Motors in New Jersey as part of a plan for them to turn Monacos into blumos for HOB Restaurants.