Holy AMPERAGE, Batman!!When I saw the video of this 1973 Cadillac Lifeliner, it appeared to have enough emergency lights to be the stunt double for Ecto 1 in Ghostbusters.
That Caddie should have ample power to pull all those lights and more since he's running an electronic siren. My '72 Superior Caddie came with a Leece-Neville 150 amp. alternator and two batteries. In its original form it had triple 184s on top; front and rear tunnel lights, a Q plus twin CP25 speakers over the cab powered originally by a Federal Director and later by a Unity SiTron, plus headlight flashers.You can see in the lights that the alternator is fighting to keep kicking. Yikes.
Wow! My '72 Caddie actually got decent gas mileage. The headlight flashers on it, btw, flashed simultaneously, not alternately, and during the day, all four headlights flashed. At night if you hit the dimmer switch, only the highbeams flashed. I got a lot of comments from people from the other private service about how it looked all lit up. It was from them that I bought the car; and as I said earlier, had been stripped of emergency equipment. They thought I'd never get it fixed up so nice. Surprise!Skip forgot to mention that it idled at 4K RPM, and got 1/2 MPG.![]()
I hate the movies where they tear up good emergency vehicles on purpose! Ouch, Ouch, Ouch!...and who can forget??
The still shots are good but the live action clips are even better....and who can forget??
Such a classic!The still shots are good but the live action clips are even better.
And the sound of 1970s Federal electronic sirens chirping away.The still shots are good but the live action clips are even better.
It sucks seeing those scenes now, but back then those cars and lightbars were in abundance. You could get them easily without spending long hours searching around. If you take a look at the Blues Brothers 2000 movie (pales in comparison to the classic) the scene where all those early-to-mid 90s CVPIs, a few Caprices, and a crazy load of JetSonics and MX700s are launched and smashed, it's really no different.No fun at all.
As an 19 year old teen living in France and salivating in front of badly dubbed American movies and their depictions of V8 powered poliiiiice cars, that flick broke my heart.![]()
PSST!!! They were LeMans. Not much on my Poncho's but don't think the Grand-Am was even around back then, Just the Parisienne,Catalina, LeMans, Grand Prix and Ventura/GTO and Astre.I don't know about the Blues Brothers, but I know in Smokey and the Bandit 2, the fleet of late 70's Pontiac Grand Am's that they destroyed were sent to a hot climate, with out a/c, and as a result were sold to the production company.
In modern production, they will typically buy seized vehicles from the government.
Told ya I did not know my Ponchos. Just went off the top of my head. Now I recall them back in the 70's with that pointed tip grill. Thanks for the info.The Grand Am came out in '73, until '75. Then it came back for 78-80 (and I am not going to lie, Id love a 78-80 Grand Am 2 door, I always thought they were cool cars) BUT being that the Grand Am and Lemans were both G-body cars, they really didnt have a ton of differences.
The Grand Am was re-reintroduced in '85 and ran until '05.
Actually you are correct, those were the Pontiac LeMans, as listed on Imcdb.org.PSST!!! They were LeMans. Not much on my Poncho's but don't think the Grand-Am was even around back then, Just the Parisienne,Catalina, LeMans, Grand Prix and Ventura/GTO and Astre.
I see what you are trying to do here but he knew he was correct.Actually you are correct, those were the Pontiac LeMans, as listed on Imcdb.org.
The Wraith had some pretty good quotes from Randy Quaid as the Sheriff:
I wince every time I see a police car or other emergency vehicle wrecked in a chase scene: especially when the roof lights or lightbars are damaged or destroyed.In the movies, I liked when a lightbar would come detached from the roof and the (usually electronic) siren sound would wind down like a huge capacitor inside was draining.
Platter lights! Mars lights!!Emergency! Then and Now
Some neat memories of the best show ever. There's not an episode I haven't seen several times...at least.Platter lights! Mars lights!!
late scene of 127. Where is the red VW?
"I don't need a warrant when I have this badge."The Wraith ...
With all the sounds that they dubbed in on that show, what I hated the most was when they interposed a set of hi-lo horns: not an electronic siren hi-lo, on top of Squad 51's siren. You're right about the B&M sound being used. Kevin's told me about that a number of times. The two nicest sounds I've heard on the show that were real were the Super Chief on the low top Caddie ambulance in a scene where it's leaving a golf course with a heart attack victim, and a scene with the San Francisco Batt. Chief running with an underhood doubletone.At the beginning of the video clip is a brief shot of the alarm system in Station 10. There is an Edwards Adaptahorn fire alarm buzzer hanging on the wall. That is what makes the dull buzzing sound that comes after the electronic tones heard over the loudspeaker.
The siren on the platter of engine 10 is a Federal C5G. The siren sounds heard on the early episodes of Emergency! are recordings of B&M mechancal siren and a Federal PA20 electronic siren. A PA20, not a PA20A.
Early shots of Squad 51's interior show a PA20 mounted below a Motorola radio control head. The first engine 51 (the 1965 Crown Firecoach) also had a PA20 but the wrong siren sound was dubbed in.
Near the end of the video the Federal Q siren on the 1973 Ward LaFrance pumper sounds just like the siren sound that was dubbed in for it on the TV show.
Ha ha, that's Sonny Shroyer from Smokey and the Bandit!