Welcome back, Johnny! I always love it when you make erudite comments about cars!
Thank you and its nice to come back and visit the board. I have been busy running errands for Hyman, down here in Florida.
As you know better than I, the "big car" is a '39 Cad,
Not sure about the "big car", but if its the same as the one that was in the Vito assassination attempt scene, it was a 1940 Cadillac Series "60" Special.
and the one that trails Michael when he courts Kay in New Hampshire after he returned from Sicily is a '47.
With all due respect its a 1949 Cadillac Fleetwood "75"
The '39 had to be Vito's choice, and the '47 may have been Vito's choice.
But was it? Could it have been one of these scenarios?
-He went down to the Local Cadillac showroom and bought the car himself.
-He sent one of his men, down to the Cadillac showroom to buy the car.
-He told one of his men, to go out and buy a "big car".
I seem to lean toward the last option, due to the fact, that he said, "get the big car" and not "get the Cadillac". Of course he might have had more then one Cadillac, and wanted to take the "big" one, since he was taking all the sons. As an added note, I remember a line in the film "The Valachi Papers", when one of the soldiers told Joe Valachi "to get the Packard"
Later, we see Michael driving his own car, a '54 Packard Clipper. So, it very well could be that Michael was asserting his independence from Vito, or simply avoiding the usual Cadillac/mobster cliche.
Correct me if I am wrong, but the only time we see Michael driving any car, is the '43 Alfa Romeo 6C2500 in Italy. I think the only time we see the Packard Executive Sedan, is the one scene after Mike comes back from Las Vegas and he is in the back seat with his son, in a Marine uniform and his wife, and he promises to take her out on the weekend. Now that I think of it, Other then Sonny, I don't think we see any of the principal characters driving a car twice. and we know what happened when Sonny went for a ride to visit his sister. Of course, we did see young Vito driving a truck in GFII.
I assume that production designer Dean Tavoularis selected the cars. He (or whoever else selected them) did a superb job. Anyone in films can get Cadillacs from agencies that specialize for Hollywood, and can put mobsters in them. But it took real thought (and searching) to find that Packard. There were other triumphs, too: the '43 Alfa Romeo 6C2500 that Appolonia gets blown up in; the '54 Imperial limo that delivers Michael to Moe Green's hotel; the '57 Mercury Montclair that drives Michael around in Cuba (complete with the tinny European horn so beloved of Hispanic drivers at the time); and--triumph of triumphs--the '58 Imperial Ghia limo that takes him back to his estate. Fewer than a dozen were built-where the hell did Tavoularis find one in running condition? The background cars were wonderful, too, and every one of them was not only authentic for the time, but authentic for the purpose (like the '58 Plymouth Plaza taxi that brought Fredo to Michael's Havana hotel, and the '58 Ford Custom 300 that Michael drove in Miami--exactly what Mr. Avis would have rented to you at the time).
Boy do I love that Imperial Ghia, and thanks to Turnbull for setting me straight concerning Chryslers, Chrysler Imperials, Imperials and Imperial Ghias.
Did I ever mention the film I was in, actually my car, a 1954 Cadillac Fleetwood was in, with Robin Williams and Jerry Stiller that was filmed in New York?
