Cars and Vans of ‘DRIVE-IN’ (1976)

‘There’s Nothing But ACTION at The Drive-In’

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Don’t believe that ‘tag-line’. What looks like a T-&-A comedy from the 70s with voluptuous women on the movie poster has absolutely no nudity in its 96 minute runtime; 12-year-olds have checked! ‘Drive-In‘ isn’t even all that funny. The movie is kind of a glimpse. A day in the lives of teenagers living in a small Texas town in 1976. Follow along as they go to the roller rink and the Alamo Drive-In theatre. It’s kind of like John Linklater’s ‘Dazed and Confused‘ but without the charming characters. The most interesting part of the movie is the cars that are front and centre on screen.

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1972 Chevy Chevelle ‘Malibu’ Convertible

Main character Orville drives this bad-ass ride. Bright yellow paint, white convertible top, side-pipe exhaust and rallye wheels make this car a real looker. A V8 powered muscle-car must be every teenage boy’s dream car, but it’s wasted on this guy! He looks like Ralph Malph from ‘Happy Days’ but lacks the charisma and comedy. And even when the ladies throw themselves at him, he hides behind his Christian morality. pretending to be looking for a ‘sincere’ girl. One girl asks Orville if he’s gay, but says she ain’t prejudiced if he is.

1955 Chevrolet Bel Air 4-Door Sedan

This car belongs to the two bad guys who plan on robbing the Alamo drive-in on the opening night of the summer blockbuster hit movie ‘Disaster 76‘. Their car is a beat-up, 20 year-old car with a faulty radiator and a chain holding the hood closed. It’s so old and crappy that it does completely unnoticed; a perfect getaway car. Oddly, today this car would be the most appealing and sought after of anything vehicle in the movie.

1974 Dodge Tradesman Van – Custom

This is where it gets weird. There’s a gang of losers (one of whom looks exactly like Uncle Rico from ‘Napoleon Dynamite‘) called the Widow-Makers. They cruise their small Texas town in a customized van complete with its port-hole window, geometric paint, shag carpet all over the interior (floor, walls, etc.) plus a waterbed. There’s another gang in their won customized Dodge van with marginally different paint and port-hole window. Guess these were cool with the kids for a brief moment in the 70s.

1975 Cadillac Coupe DeVille

The only black characters in the movie are a doctor and his wife, who arrive at the theatre in a white on red 2-door Cadillac. Dr. Demars even has a special “MD” emblem riveted onto the trunk of the Caddy. Never seen that before! Dr. Demars comments that he’s in Klu Klucks Klansville at the drive in, and he does face some racism when a movie patron mistakenly thinks the doctor has vandalized a phone booth, and sneers ‘A lot of good bussing did you people!’.

1974 Chevrolet C-10 Cheyenne Stepside Pick-Up

Since this film is set in Texas, a stepside bed pick-up with a panel paintjob on the fenders was the epitome of high-class elegance. Truly a sign that “you’ve made it big” in rural communities. This truck also had oversize chrome towing mirrors, wide ‘mag’ wheels and a jacked-up rear end for a drag racing stance popular in the era. The character who drives this truck has proposed to his girlfriend, spends half the movie trying to convince her to say yes, then falls in lust with a 17 year old girl working the snack bar.

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Pay special attention to the pretend movie the characters are watching at the Alamo drive-in, ‘Disaster 76‘ movie. It’s like ‘Jaws‘ meets ‘Airport 1975‘ and ‘The Towering Inferno‘ and every other disaster movie of the era. Take a close look at the 42:42 minute mark for a scary bit of foreshadowing from 50 years ago.

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