There's just something about the classic Autopia; I love the various styles that Bob Gurr cooked up over the years (even though versions he dislike, such as the Mark V cars), I love the winding miniature highways, and the often-smiling faces on kids and adults alike.
Big Sis is returning to the Autopia load area, based on her expression I'd say she had fun. I'm a little confused about the fact that we are seeing Mark VI cars in June of '67, since the familiar Mark VII cars were introduced this year - but we all know that date stamps can lie. Perhaps the photos were taken many month earlier. It's also a bit strange that the cars are slightly different shades of blue. Where are the yellows, the greens, the candy-apple reds? Looking in the distance we can see...
...Kid Sister, in her "Peter Max"-colored dress and proper white cardigan. She's not smiling, perhaps she had a premonition of the future, since it feels like the Autopia's days might be numbered. I hope I'm wrong! Hey look, a white car, what an exciting color variation!
The Mark VI cars always remind me a bit of manta rays.
Major-
ReplyDelete"Kid Sister" gets bonus points for sporting 'sideburns'. Just who does she think she is... her younger brother-?
Thanks, Major.
Interesting shapes to these cars: Sort of a Car-of-the-Future mixed with a 1959 Ford Thunderbird. Not a bad combo! I'm sure Bu will spot that CM leaning against the pole with his hand in his pocket! ;-)
ReplyDeleteI think the non-smiling Peter Max girl is being intent on her driving skills: Hands at 10 and 2, eyes on the road, stiff upright posture. Actually, her hands are more like 9:30 and 2:30. But I'm sure she's concentrating too hard to notice.
It'd be cool if Disney made a ride that had manta ray ride vehicles. Maybe put it in Avatarland.
Nanook, haha!
Nice photos of blue (and 1 white) cars, Major. Thanks.
........since it feels like the Autopia's days might be numbered.
ReplyDeleteI saw a couple articles posted on F.B. within the last month, about how Disney is going to be converting the Autopia cars to electric. But I didn't click on either of the links. I usually don't click on those kinds of things, because they often turn out to be just clickbait and it's just one so-called "influencer" giving their personal "opinion" or "guessing." However, I thought one of them was a news report from KTLA Channel 5 (in Los Angeles). I guess that doesn't automatically make it accurate information.
I have never liked the current "cartoony" Autopia vehicles. They look like they belong in Toon Town. Wasn't there talk some years ago, about taking out that chunk of Tomorrowland, and replacing it with an Ewok forest? We kind of need that to balance out Wookie World on the other side of the park. NOT!
Thanks Major, for the cool pics of some cool cars!
Regarding that castmember ( DISNEYLANDER) leaning etc. while employees of Disneyland were expected and trained to be professional and polite etc … what we know of as cast “good show/bad show) behaviors and mannerisms didn’t really start until larger “Disney University “ training was developed for Walt Disney World.
ReplyDeleteTokyo : yes the current 1999/2000 AUTOPIA cars are terrible … they look very much like toys or cartoons. WDI has emphasized so many times that while Chevron was going to be the attraction’s sponsor and that the Chevron Cars would be featured in the preshow .. the actual ride vehicles would NOT be the Chevron automobiles . So what did WDI do?? Design cartoon autos. The “cute car” Autopia - inspired by a VW contertible is the worst! Remember some of the AUTOPIA’s were painted with massively expensive CHROMA-LUSION paint - that changed colors depending on where you were viewing it.
Before Chevron signed on as a sponsor , imagineers had been contemplating a “MAGIC HIGHWAY USA” theme with the Autopia cars looking like the Lincoln Futura the Club De Mere and the Chrysler Turbine car … all themed to a future super highway of the 50’s and 60’s.
One thing to keep in mind: Disney said “Autopia cars will be replaced with electric VEHICLES….” ….. that doesn’t necessarily mean electric AUTOPIA cars . There have been some kinda of exciting plans for that area’s future . I’ll sad when AUTOPIA is no longer an attraction .. but I have to admit … a current proposal is pretty cool!! And remember: “THE FUTURE IS VERY IMPORTANT ;l: IT IS WHERE YOU WILL SPEND THE REST OF YOUR LIFE!!”
Ah, AUTOPIA! I wonder why they kept restyling the cars? The old originals were fine. I’m never a fan of change for the sake of change, and Bob was right, the Mark V cars weren’t an improvement. I see plenty of fire extinguishers, but no trash cans. Mildly ominous. That Peter Max (! I remember him! And Massimo Vignelli too!) dress is pretty wild but our driverette is too distracted to care. Her eyes are on the CM and car ahead so she doesn’t crash.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the next AUTOPIA will be sponsored by Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems, “Where the Future Begins Tomorrow!”, or maybe by Swift Enterprises, powered by solar batteries and repelatrons! We can always hope.
Thanks Major!
JG
I think most of the reason Autopia and its siblings in other parks survives is because parents like getting that picture of the kid at the wheel.
ReplyDeleteI do have a nice memory of my grandfather letting me drive at the WDW "Speedway" despite banging over and over into guide rail. He was remarkably patient with the driving skills of an 8 year old.
Nanook, I noticed the “sideburns” too. I guess that was the style of the day??
ReplyDeleteJB, most of the Autopia designs are so appealing, even the Mark V cars that Bob Gurr dismissed. I guess leaning isn’t a good look, but jeez, standing for eight hours a day… give the guy a break! I’ve always thought that the Autopia cars were sort of hard to drive - meaning that you had to exert a lot of pressure on the gas pedal. Like a LOT. Maybe I need to do a leg workout. I remember in the game “Half Life 2”, at one point you went to an alternate dimension, and there were what looked like manta rays flying through the sky!
TokyoMagic!, I was super surprised that Disneyland is going to invest many millions of dollars to electrify their vehicles - I suppose the ride is still popular enough to justify that expense. I’m not upset about it, part of me would miss the Autopia if they removed it. Will they give the cars an artificial “hum” sound like many electric vehicles have? Like you, I don’t care for the cartoony vehicles, they went from “cool” to “giant toy”.
Mike Cozart, I kind of wonder why that fellow is standing in that particular spot. It seems almost like a kind of “no man’s land”, but maybe there was a reason they needed a cast member right there. I remember liking the stop-motion cars (animated by Will Vinton?) from the Chevron commercials, and I can sort of understand why it was thought that they would go well at Disneyland. But I miss the “realistic” highway of the future. Now it just feels like an amusement park ride, sort of silly. “Chroma-lusion” paint, I remember that on actual cars. Sort of neat, but it must have been a nightmare to fix if you had a collision. I haven’t really seen any plans for what will become of the Autopia, I guess I will have to look it up! I like your Criswell quote!
Dean Finder, I think you are right, or the other thing is that it’s fun to take your kid on a drive (if they are too small to man the wheel) - my six year old nephew loved the “little cars”.