On Saturday Night Live, host Chris Rock was in a great sketch that deserves a mention here on Demaras Racing’s website. Short version, a group of friends are helping their pal Benny clean out his grandpa’s barn. They sift through old trophies and mementos before uncovering grandpa’s navy blue car from under a tarp. Benny explains that ‘Curbie’ is from 1958 and grandpa always called it ‘magic’.
Just like Herbie the Love Bug, soon Curbie comes to life and expresses himself through his smiling grille. And like John Carpenter’s ‘Christine‘ this car flips between radio stations to further communicate its thoughts… which aren’t always so pure.
In the sketch ‘Grandpa’s Magic Car’ the character Benny says the car is a 1958, and really, the badging has been removed so it isn’t really identifiable as anything. But, for the record, Curbie is almost definitely a 1953 Chevrolet 210 four-door sedan, with the bowtie logo removed from the nose.
Not going to touch on race relations in America, just going to ask why grandpa didn’t buy the two-door ‘Club Coupe’ to use as a race car?
I had a 1956 Cadillac, and it had a nice set of jugs on the front. It looks like Curbie had a double mastectomy. The SNL skit was hilarious.
I guess they didn’t want Curbie to look too much like a Chevy (which I bet is an SNL sponsor).
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I laughed at this sketch so much.
Pretty clever! I liked Herbie The Love Bug a lot more than racist, sexist Curbie, but the sketch was pretty great.
I don’t know if I agree. You always knew where you stood with Curbie. There were no mixed signals with him.
Well, true of course, but Herbie came along when I was a young girl who loved sappy love stories that had happy endings. And those are good memories. 😉
Too bad there wasn’t a Herbie Christmas movie. I’d be all over that right about now.
Good thought. No, I guess they thought going to monte Carlo would be more exciting.