Johnny Dark Movie Book

9 Foreword Johnny Dark was filmed in 1953 and debuted in June, 1954. It is an emblematic film which perfectly captured early post - war American handcrafted sports cars at their best. In the Universal Studios “ Production Notes ” released in early 1954 (shown in their entirety later in this book) reference is given to one of the most “ vigorous movements ” in the automotive field, “ sports - type vehicles … which are fast beginning to revolutionize Detroit ”. The “ Production Notes ” elaborated “ Because most of Detroit ’ s contemplated domestic sports cars are as yet in blueprint state, the studio made arrangements with a dozen top car designers ” for sports cars for the film. Further, “ these vehicles in many respects are years ahead of their time and expected to be of great influence in the design of commercial cars ”. The key point of emphasis in reading this book about the movie Johnny Dark is that the cars in the movies were viewed as “ state of the art ” and reflective of post - war American sports cars. Period. Retroactively, we may categorize these cars as American Specials and/or handcrafted sports cars. But in the era of the early 1950’ s, such nomenclature was not accurate. Eight sports cars were introduced in the movie. These included the Woodill Wildfire, Victress, Glasspar G2, Grantham Stardust, Lancer, Bohman Special, Tatum Special and Kurtis Sports Car. The oldest of the bunch was the Kurtis Sports Car having been built in 1949 - 1950. The remaining cars were built in 1952 and 1953 —spot on for the golden years of designing, building and racing such cars. The movie and the history of American sports cars shown in Johnny Dark reflects the excitement of the times, the design creativity of the individual and the entrepreneurial spirit of those in the postwar years. And what makes this even more interesting is that the cars, their history and the achievement of those who did so much back then has largely been forgotten—including the full legacy of the postwar American sports cars. This was a time when American road racing had yet become commercialized. Where the achievement of an individual in building and racing their own car could level the playing field such as Max Balchowsky did in his Old Yeller race cars. So much was accomplished back then and so much has been forgotten now. We hope to change that fact. But the story gets better when you jump from the reality of the movie to the real - world. Back when the Corvette debuted in 1953 (the same year that Johnny Dark was filmed), there were nearly 50 American Sports cars you could buy, build, and drive.