“Fire Red Thunderbird,” recorded by James Watson and Steve Dean (James/Dean, get it?), 2002.
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“Red Thunderbird,” Lynn Howard & The Accents, 1956. Apparently written by Lynn Howard. The flip side of the original recording of “Walkin’ After Midnight.”
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Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga, Tennessee just voted to join the UAW, the first American workers to unionize a non-union car company in decades. This is a big victory for the autoworkers union’s Southern organizing campaign, and the first for a foreign-owned US factory. The win came despite the usual anti-union efforts by management. A More Perfect Union video.
Fun fact: Volkswagen workers in VW’s hometown of Wolfsburg, Germany belong to IG Metall, Europe’s largest industrial union, are represented on the factory’s works council, and negotiate well-paid apprentiship positions at the plant.
More:
“UAW wins big in historic union vote at Volkswagen Tennessee factory,” Nora Eckert, Associated Press
“VW Workers in Tennessee Vote for Union, a Labor Milestone,” Neal E. Boudette, New York Times
“UAW presses deeper into the South with victory at Volkswagen,” Nathan Bomey, Axios
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“Magoo’s Puddle Jumper,” a 1956 UPA theatrical cartoon featuring Mr. Magoo, directed by Pete Burness, written by Dick Shaw, with music by Dean Elliott. Voice actors: Jim Backus and Daws Butler. 1957 Academy Award winner. Note: In the 20th century, mocking people with disabilities was considered hilarious.
Note: There really was a Baker electric automobile.
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A Touch of Magic, a short musical film produced for the 1961 General Motors Motorama show, which toured New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Basel Switzerland like some kind of fantasy consumer circus. It also featured appliances by Frigidaire, then owned by GM. Directed by producer Victor D. Solow, written by Joseph March and Edward Eliscu, with music by Sol Kaplan. Featuring dancers Thelma “Tad” Tadlock (voiced by singer Anita Ellis) and James Mitchell (voiced by Ed Kenney). Choreography by Thomas Hansen.
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Design for Dreaming, a short musicical film produced for the 1956 General Motors Motorama show, which toured New York City, Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Boston like some kind of futuristic consumer circus. It also featured appliances by Frigidaire, then owned by GM. Directed by producer Victor D. Solow (or possibly William Beaudine), written by Joseph March, with music by Sol Kaplan. Featuring dancers Thelma “Tad” Tadlock (voiced by singer Marjorie Gordon) and Marc Breaux (voiced by Joseph Lautner). Narrative by Thurl Ravenscroft. Filmed in Miami. Spoiler: our happy couple drive into the glorious future in a GM Firebird II concept car.
More:
“Motoramas in Pink Pajamas, And Other Illusions From When Life Was Mighty Swell,” Jesse Sublett, Austin Chronicle
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Americans love big, fat cars. Tall cars. SUVs, light trucks. Why do SUVs even exist? A government loophole.
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Cadillac used to be, um, the Cadillac of American cars. Then European and Asian luxury cars took over. Can Caddies and Lincolns catch up?
Related:
“Cadillac Thrives as a Figure of Speech,” Ben Zimmer, New York Times
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Ford Thunderbird, 600 block of Pennsylvania Avenue SE, Washington DC.
It’s summer, and classic cars have migrated to the streets of the Mid-Atlantic states. Spotted on Capitol Hill: this 4-door, 1971-ish Ford T-Bird, with its chrome bumpers, big old Bunky Beak, suicide doors, and gangster whitewalls. Crank up Jean Knight on the tape deck!
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Photo by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
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Automobiles once had hood ornaments.Until they didn’t. A video by Zack Pradel.
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