Back in the day, the auto industry made some amazing cars. Gasoline cost about a dime a gallon, and no one much cared about the price of gas - the focus was on style, muscle and speed. So let's go back to the glory days of auto racing for a moment when cars were a good deal, and better still - they were really, really fast with monster sized engines.
America began its love affair with cars in the 1950s - and the original version of The Fast and The Furious is a car lover's dream come true. The film starred a rugged John Ireland as Frank Webster, a fugitive on the run from the police for a crime he didn't commit. In fact he was framed and had to go under cover as a guy named Bill Myers, looking for a ride in an automobile race that would get him past the police blockade. His femme fatale was Connie Adair, played by Dorothy Malone. Back then, way before Danika Patrick became an Indy driver - well, the boys just didn't allow the girls to race. Connie Adair had a great car, but due to her female restriction she needed a driver, and Bill Myers arrived to come to the rescue. He was a truck driving fugitive, but man could he go fast. He just cruises in the trials and Connie decides to give Bill a chance.
And of course, this being the movies, she falls in love with him. Lots of steamy kisses and passionate embraces, coupled with the roar of cars with 8, and sometimes even 12 cylinders. Most of the cars in the film have become collectible vintage speedsters, some with price tags over a million dollars, because they looked really cool and better still, the cars went really fast. So just set aside your worries about carbon footprints, and marvel at the raw power and speeds of these early automobile treasures. A very enjoyable film on many levels - check out the original The Fast and the Furious.
