Motto's Chev

[Lynn Eades]

My Dodge gun motor carriage belonged to the Marine Corp. The forest green paint over the top of the original army green was very dark, in the sheltered areas of the vehicle, almost black. It was a pretty rough paint job, with no shortage of runs. It still has "posting instructions" on the front guards, stencilled in yellow.

[motto (RIP)]

The colour you describe is what I would have thought to be correct Lynn. I can't explain the colour used on the film vehicles. Considering the trouble that they went to to get things right I figured there must have been a good reason for it. They even had a couple of genuine ex-Marines commanding the troops to make sure the way they dressed, behaved and carried their weapons was authentic. There were some slip ups though. Hollywood just can't get away from depicting soldiers festooning themselves with belts of MG ammunition when the very last thing you would want is to risk feeding mud and debris into the gun. I'm certain it would have remained in the can 'til the last second.
Are there any pictures of your WC55 on the forum Lynn?
David

[motto (RIP)]

I wouldn't mind having one of these props at home. They just turned up one day from I know not where. They certainly looked real. I believe they were and that they were probably brought in from the States and went back again afterwards.
David

[Howard]

This is an excellent thread, David, keep it coming.
As you stated, don't worry too much about the accuracies of your story, those that know will correct where necessary, and then we all know!
Now, duck into the Holgate Brewhouse for me and down a "Hoppinator"... Yummy!

[warren brown]

G'day Dave - terrific post. Years ago I ran into Paul Naylor in Sydney, who'd just come back from the Daintree Rainforest filming The Thin Red Line. He said the director, Terrence Mallick (Badlands etc) was an absolute nut on detail , in particular paint colour for vehicles and he'd been consulting an expert, I think an ex-marine, at the museum at Fort Knox, Kentucky. I don't know what the colour was exactly, but Mallick had gone to great pains to match it with the Fort Knox recipe and all the vehicles were required to receive this colour - whatever it was. Paul also told this story of Mallick desperately needing a Diamond T wrecker and they located one way up in the sticks on an aboriginal mission. They negotiated a fee for it and spent ages getting it going - fitting with a Falcon motor or a Holden motor if I remember correctly - trucking back to the Daintree, giving it a coat of Fort Knox green and it appears in the film as a tiny, blurry speck on a distant horizon on an airfield for a millionth of a second. It's at least 10 years since I heard this, so I might be a bit rubbery on it's exactness but this is pretty much what I remember...

[lynx42]

G'day Warren,
About time you joined the MLU brigade. Good to see you've come out of the wilderness.
Regards rick.

[motto (RIP)]

Thanks Warren. Good to hear from you. We thought maybe you'd fallen off the edge of the world.
Meanwhile, talking of the pains that are taken to get an authentic feel, while we were waiting with the trucks at Victoria Park we could hear chanting coming from on the oval. We walked up into the stand to see what was going on to be confronted with this scene and it was not part of the filming. They went around twice at a jog, chanting various phrases where the drill sergeant shouts a phrase and the men shout it back. Sgt-Used To Drive a Cadillac! Men-Used To Drive a Cadillac! Sgt-Now All I Do Is Tote My Pack! Men-Now All I do Is Tote My Pack!
It turned out that this was preparation for a scene that was being shot where the men were coming in after a hundred mile route march and they wanted them to look like their legs were rubbery. They were also required to do deep knee bends before shooting the scene.
Note the weapons. Mostly M1 Garands but also a number of BARs. I think I would prefer an M1 carbine for this sort of thing.
David

[warren brown]

Thanks Rick and Dave - I thought I'd fallen off the edge of the world too for a while. It's great to be back. What great photos! I love the Bob Rose stand in the background - what a hoot. It looks like it must have been so much fun Dave.
I finally bought a Blitz - Fred and Marilyn Reeves' C60X. I've never owned a Blitz before - but it's something I've always wanted since I was a little kid. A mate of my older brother restored a C-15A 4x2 while he was still in high school and I remember riding around in it - I was only five and couldn't see through the windscreen, but I remember the hot engine cover and the terrific look of the whole truck. And Fred's C60X was the first one I ever drove - during Back to the Track in '95 when we swapped for a day and Fred drove the Studebaker.
Speaking of filming, the week before I picked the truck up from Fred in March, it was used in an episode of 'The Biggest Loser' where some muscly, macho bloke called 'Commando' drives up to an unsuspecting group of, well...fat people, I guess...and drives off with two of them to a secret boot camp. Fred said he had a ball. There's an internet link to it somewhere - I'll try and find it - it's quite funny. Great to speak with you both again.