Johnny Dark Movie Book

21 Part 2 — Articles About The Movie Johnny Dark The Post World War II Sports Car Craze Played Out On The Silver Screen Hemmings Motor News: February, 2016 Author: David Conwill Films can tell us a lot about the time in which they were produced. Recently, we viewed Johnny Dark, a movie produced in 1953, released in 1954, and illustrating the sports - car craze then sweeping the country after WWII. That craze was inspired by machines spotted by G.I.s serving in the European Theater and led to developments like the Nash - Healey, Corvette and Thunderbird. It also paired with the do - it - yourself ethos of the 1950s to spur one of the greatest untold stories of the American car scenes -- the home - built sports car. Those home builds, using factory - produced body shells, were forerunners of today's kit - car movement, but required a great deal more engineering. Underneath, they shared technology with contemporary hot rods -- mostly early Ford components -- but covered with a European - influenced fiberglass body. Johnny Dark, with Tony Curtis in the title role, was shared with us by the number - one champion of this forgotten automotive trend, Geoff Hacker. Geoff runs the website Undiscovered Classics ( www.UndiscoveredClassics.com ) and has dedicated his life to rescuing as many of these mid - century, limited - production sports cars as he can, and promoting awareness of their story to the public. Geoff knew we had recently written up a Victress S1A headed to auction, and thought we might like to see an S1A in action. And there is plenty of action, in addition to the S1A, which goes by the name "Thunderbird" in the Johnny Dark universe and is piloted by Don Taylor's character, Duke Benson, the foil to Tony Curtis's dashing young engineer. There was a Woodill Wildfire in the role of the Fielding Motors X150 (a.k.a. the "Idaho Special"), a Glasspar G2, an Irwin Lancer, a Grantham Stardust and a Kurtis Sports Car -- progenitor of the Muntz Jet.