Original Roadster
Mannix and his roadster
Fan Car Discussion
Group:
I wish to thank Mary Dee Phillips for passing along the email from Bob Hall
on the various Mannix cars. This is the stuff I signed up on this group
for! Had it not been for his cars, I probably would never developed an
interest in the show. As it turned out, I ended up with a black Dodge
Challenger convert. and a condo decorated almost exactly like Joe's
(brass plate over the stove, "boxer" statue, Mediterranean-style
candle holders and furniture, round-top bookcase, swords, solid-shade
desk lamp, "Mr. Coffee" coffee maker, and a whole bunch more stuff than
I can remember from thirty-some years ago). I later replaced the Challenger
with a medium blue '74 Camaro And sport coats?. . yeah, I had a ton
of them (all, of course, with the watch pockets on the right side),
which I always wore and still do, with button-down shirts and pants
with park-your-hands-here front pockets.
By the way, the original Mannix roadster is on display in a museum in Gatlinburg,. Tenn.
I have visited it twice, but to my way of thinking, it was way too
overstated, contrived and cheesy to fit a guy as classy as Joe.
Good call, Bruce Geller; the Dart and Barracudas were a great choice!.
Anyway, keep this kind of stuff coming in as this is what us gear head
Mannix fans love!
Thanks again, Bob Hall. I grew up in So. Cal, so I know the close
relationship we all felt to the television industry but you had the
opportunity of a lifetime. Nice talkin' to ya.
Well, it's time for a bloody Mary-heavy on the Tabasco.
See ya:
Larry
Mary Dee Phillips wrote:
Hey Gang!
Since the subject of the Roadster popped up I figured this might be
of interest. The last time I was in LA (October '01) I had the
pleasure of meeting George Barris and his son Brett - not to mention
fellow listers Mark and Laura (hi guys!). Brett invited me to swing
by the shop. So the following day Mark and I went over. Brett
graciously gave us a tour - showing us many of George's most famous
creations (the Batmobile, the Munster's Car, The General Lee, etc.)
and then proceeded to pull out scores of pictures from the Mannix
file. Needless to say Mark and I were like 2 kids in a candy
store! Some of you veterans may have already seen these but for the
newbies and those who may have missed them before, you can see the
Roadster pics at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Mannix/files/Roadster%20Pics/
We also had a nice chat with Brett. He and Mike's daughter, Dana,
went to school together. He remembered her fondly and since the
Connors' and Barris' were friends he said they hung out together as
kids. He laughed about their famous fathers, and said that to them
they were just "Dad". I also wanted to pass on this e-mail I got a
while back - it sheds some light on the cars of Mannix.
Take Care
MD
Subj: The garage at 17 Paseo Verde
To:
Dear MD
When I was in high school, I had a part-time job at the Chrysler
Corporation 'special services unit' in Glendale, California. This
was the Chrysler office that handled vehicle exposure with he
studios as well as independent production companies. It was a dream-
come-true for an autoholic like myself, and the head of the group, a
Chrysler executive named Herman Hadler, was kind enough to have me
do a ton of errands which sent me to Paramount to meet with Ed
Chemey, who was vehicle coordinator for both Mannix and Mission:
Impossible. I started in mid 1969, and was lucky enough to have the
chance to drive the Mannix 1969 Dart GTS a couple of times. It was,
however, a 340 V8, not a 383. The 1968 Darts (there were always two
cars for Mannix, one to serve as back-up if something happened to
the other during shooting or in transport) were 383s, but the '69s
were 340s. The 1970-73 Barracudas were also 340s, but Mannix ALMOST
drove a Challenger in the 1969-70 season. Based on a phone
conversation Mr. Hadler had with Bruce Geller in the Spring of 1969,
Chrysler ordered two Dodge Challenger convertibles for Mannix. Both
cars were ordered in dark metallic green with beige interiors and
with 383 V8s. Oddly, they weren't the upscale 'R/T model, just
standard Challengers. Subsequently Bruce Geller came to the Chrysler
office at 1400 Air Way in Glendale to have lunch with Mr. Hadler,
where he saw a 1970 Barracuda that was being used for advertising
photography which had been stored at the garage there. He gave it a
quick eye and asked if the Mannix car order could be changed to a
pair of Barracudas. Hadler asked his why, and (I recall this
conversation like it were yesterday) he said he preferred "the clean
cut of the Barracuda". That was that and the boss was on the phone
to get a pair of 1970 Barracuda 340 convertibles into the system
ASAP. They were ordered in the same dark metallic green (I believe
it was called 'Sherwood Forest' at Plymouth) as the Challengers, but
with black interiors. When the Barracudas arrived, they were sent to
Fernwood Auto Body in Pasadena (Chrysler's contract fixit shop) to
be repainted British Racing Green (using the same shade offered at
the time by Jaguar) so they'd match any long shots of the Darts that
sight have to be used in an emergency. I think this happened in an
episode in which Peggy was kidnapped and taken to a house in Malibu
(I think it was "A Choice of Evils"), as I recall there was a single
Dart helicopter shot - I believe from " View of Nowhere" used in the
episode. But I digress. Replacement cars were ordered up for the
1971 model year which duplicated the spec of the 1970 Barracudas
(340 4-barrel carb with Torqueflite automatic). Chrysler had placed
four fake vents on the front fenders of the 'cuda model in 1971, so
the two cars destined for Mannix had these filled when they went to
Fernwood for the solid British Racing Green repaints. The 1972 and
73 convertibles were interesting, since Chrysler stopped building
open cars at the end of the 1971 model year. Mr. Hadler convinced
Chrysler's top management that exposure on 'Mannix' and 'The Doris
Day Show' was valuable enough that they should find some way to
procure cars for those two shows. Bill Gaelich, Hadler's 21C case up
with the idea that four convertibles be built at the very end of
1971 production, then be shipped to Glendale where they'd be
converted to 1972 appearance by Fernwood Autobody. Since the cars
would be 1971 models, they wouldn't cause any emissions or safety
certification problems by being one-oft. Since the 'conversion' was
pretty easy, and involved changing the headlamp mounts, plastic
grille insert, lower front stoneshield and the rear panel between
the bumper and trunk lid Chrysler approved this and also allowed a
pair of 1971 Challenger convertibles to be made into 1972 look-
alikes as well. I believe The Doris Day Show' was cancelled in the
1971-72 season (or Chrysler decided to stop supporting it), so the
two cars used in it were sold at the end of the year, but the two
Mannix Barracudas were updated yet again to become 1973 models with
a set of different bumper guards. When Joe finally got into a
Challenger, he must've been watching his budget, since the cars were
straight as they came from the factory, with no Femwood
intervention. I know this must seem arcane in the extreme, but I
suppose being a car fan and a Mannix fan has certainly colored my
past.
It's a complete and utterly useless aside, but when the Toronado-
based Mannix Roadster disappeared about the time Joe left Intertect
(must've been a company car), as a consolation prize Bruce Geller
had Barris do the light custom job on the 1968-9 Darts (this
consisted of a rear lip spoiler – no small feat with the Dart's W'
shaped rear end - reforming the hood bumps to mini scoops, grille
black-out, adding a set of Lucas 'Flamethrower' driving lamps and
relocating the front turn indicators) and commissioned a 'Mission:
Impossible' Roadster based on a 1968 Dodge Coronet convertible. This
thing appeared (and only briefly) in four episodes, always in the
background when Mr. Phelps was getting is mission in the episode
openings. When I asked Bruce Geller why Mannix stopped using the
original Mannix Roadster, he said he though it looked "too much like
the Batmobile, only not quite as tasteful" At the time he was
driving the only road-registered Porsche Carrera 6 (Type 906) in
California, so Mr. Geller knew his cars.
That's enough boredom from me. Please excuse any spelling errors -
there are likely to be dozens, if not hundreds - and keep up the
great work with 17 Paseo Verde!
Bob Hall