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1940 Ford V8 1-Ton Police Van Replica by AMT Comments about this vehicle| Author | Message |
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◊ 2010-08-11 21:47 |
In the movie it has an V8 update, I wonder if it really had or if they just produced a fitting sound. |
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◊ 2010-08-12 02:52 |
1941, no lighter than a one-ton model. |
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◊ 2010-09-12 18:33 |
It's a 1940-41 Ford Police wagon replica. According to "The Legendary Custom Cars and Hot Rods of Gene Winfield" by David Grant. Motorbooks, 2008 The producers rented an old truck for use in the pilot film...the trouble is it was so underpowered it could not easily go up the hills of San Francisco, where the series was set and where they did location filming. It was decided to have AMT (the model kit firm) Speed and Custom Division, headed by Gene Winfield build a new truck that looked like the old Ford. So they purchased a new Chevrolet heavy duty chassis cab and made new fiberglass and wood body for it. It had an electric lift in the rear for Ironside's wheelchair. About three years later, it was destroyed in an episode when it was decided to give the character a new custom Ford van with a wheelchair lift and raised roof. Suggest it be named AMT Custom Ford Police Van and give it 4 stars. Also, look at the rear angle picture of it in the Oldsmoble photo. The "real " Ford used in the pilot film had small rear windows, they were enlarged on the replica. See the 1959 Ford photo for comparison. Since the Oldsmobile photo dates from season 2, probably a case of "Stock" location-shot film being used. -- Last edit: 2010-09-12 22:20:07 |
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◊ 2010-09-30 17:11 |
I stopped watching the show after they crashed the Ford Van. Good to hear that it was only a replica, if still a waste. Why didn't they use it any further? It was much more characteristic then the later van and could well be identified with Ironside himself. |
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◊ 2014-04-12 12:05 |
The Paddy Wagon was represented in the Ironside television series by an originally built new 1940 Ford 1 1/2 ton truck chassis, and drivetrain with "front clip" (i. e. hood, front fenders, dash, steering wheel, cab floorboards, transmission shifter, clutch, brake, and gas peddle all included) which in that specific case was then built up as an actual brand new municipal police paddy wagon by one of the several custom shops Ford contracted with for production of made-to-order vehicles for their then various fleet customers which included municipalities. Universal City Studios, and Raymond Burr's Harbour Productions Unlimited jointly managed to procure altogether three of those specific units in 1967, one of which was designated by them to be fully converted "in house" by Universal's special effects department both internally as well as externally to serve as the "hero" version of the three for the pilot made-for-television motion picture, the other two after NBC gave a green light to the series being at that point subjected to the exact same external cosmetic alterations from how the vehicle originally appeared in the pilot, but left unchanged internally except for the inclusion of the small sliding panel cut through the bulkhead wall that separated the driver/passenger compartment up front from the prisoner compartment in the rear. The very first episode of the third season to be produced (i.e. "Pool's Paradise") was the actual one in which the Paddy Wagon met its ultimate demise. For the scene filmed of its destruction, a sacrificial fake was fabricated via in-house conversion of a 1940 or 1941 Ford 1 1/2 ton medium duty truck, the specific conversion work being also done through the auspices of Universal City Studios' special effects department. The destruction of the paddy wagon made way for the world's first-of-its-kind brand new van converted for wheelchair accessibility (i.e the 1969 beige colored 1 ton Ford Econoline Window Van which Universal's special effects department also converted "in house," and there is visual evidence as well as corroborating info indicating that about three to four years later the new hero unit along with its two requisite backups were subjected to subtle cosmetic bodywork refinement by the George Barris group). A dear friend of mine in England, Mark Rogers, who created the Ironside Archive website which he ran full force up until recurring health problems compelled him to ultimately reign all of it in, a number of years back speculated on there in his commentary on the Paddy Wagon that the reason the old 1940 Ford 1 1/2 ton van changed in color from the original glossy police black in the pilot made-for-television motion picture to flat light gray trimmed in baby blue for the series was likely that it was, as well as still is more difficult and therefore time consuming to properly light shiny black vehicles so that they show well on film, but he agrees with me that the Paddy Wagon in its original paint is pure class--which the Ironside pilot made-for-television motion picture, and then subsequent series (in spite of the color change to the unit) had in abundance, on every level. Another technical fact regarding that particular vehicle: in the motion picture the fully automated custom lift and rear doors were originally powered by a conspicuously more responsive electro-pneumatic system. The sound of that system in operation was rather unique in that it consisted of the subtle whir of an electric motor undergirding the distinctive hiss of compressed air being released, and then checked by resultant pronounced pop-like metallic clicks of at least three different electric valves as they were actuated in a predetermined sequence. I speculate that perhaps Universal's special effects department found that version of the one-off set up a bit too temperamental as well as unwieldy, and soon after commencement of shooting for the series recognized it would be too difficult to maintain in the cost effective manner which the confines of the now more constrictive series' budget demanded they must operate within. This would explain why the above-described unique audible characteristics of that pneumatically powered system along with the more responsive behavior of the set up can be observed, and concurrently heard to have been somewhat conspicuously supplanted early on by those of a less responsive ( i. e. read slower) electro-hydraulically powered set up which became "de rigor" after the first few episodes. All three of the 1940 Ford 1 1/2 ton vans were of course, interchangeably utilized to depict Chief Ironside's original mode of transport, depending on what was needed. The units were deployed throughout the ensuing series' various first, and second season episodes. An extra tidbit of technical information: 1940, and 1941 Ford 1 1/2 ton vans, and trucks apart from a few very minor cosmetic variations to vertical, and horizontal wrap-around chrome trim details on their engine hoods, otherwise were virtually identical in every other way. Besides police paddy wagons one other principle example of the several ways Ford contracted with their outside custom shops to have the then new base drivetrain/chassis units configured for fleet customers were as mail delivery vehicles. I have long maintained a brief few seconds of archival film footage converted to DVD of one of those mail delivery vans which appeared to have served in conjunction with one of the major railroad corporations) In addition to the alterations Universal's special effects shop incorporated into what became the "hero" unit selected from among the three that had been acquired for the series, an elevated set was also budgeted for, and constructed which very closely replicated the actual converted rear compartment prisoner area of that van. It had what are called in the vernacular of the film, and television industry "flying" (i. e. removable) walls and ceiling, enabling otherwise impossible to obtain integral camera, and lighting set ups for action and/or dialog taking place within the rear compartment of the Paddy Wagon which the cumbersome size, and weight of the then current state of available 35 mm industry camera/lighting hardware for the most part otherwise physically prevented from being obtained in any other manner. All filming on that set required the deployment of a camera mounted on, and operated from an elevated camera crane. To make the long hours of filming under the hot kleig lights less confining for Mr. Burr, the set had been intentionally designed, and constructed with a ceiling which was positioned about a foot higher up from its floor than was the actual one in the converted vehicle. During the series' 1968 summer hiatus, very cleverly concealed major custom body work was performed on the "hero" vehicle which increased the height of its roof so that the height of the ceiling of its rear compartment would exactly parallel the height of the elevated set's ceiling. Concurrently, this unavoidably required that the same be done to the rear double doorway, the double doors themselves, their respective windows, and the bulkhead wall which divided the converted prisoner area from the driver/passenger area up front (this also included both the pass-through window opening in that wall as well as its sliding privacy panel). For the purpose of cosmetic continuity, all of those concurrent alterations were replicated on the elevated set. The changes to the vehicle were done to not only afford Mr. Burr the same headroom in the actual vehicle as he had always enjoyed on the elevated set, but in addition eliminated the need for him to duck when passing through the rear doorway during operation of the custom wheelchair lift. The vehicle's drivetrain/ chassis was manufactured by Ford with outboard dualie wheels and dualie fenders. Universal, prior to filming the pilot made-for-television motion picture had apparently removed the dualie wheels for cosmetic reasons. However, for safety purposes, in order to give the now heavier unit more stability, as well as to somewhat re-lower the higher center of gravity that was incurred as a result of the aforementioned physical alterations and additions, those wheels were reinstalled. -- Last edit: 2015-03-24 05:30:27 |
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