Having yesterday featured two Ford Crown Victorias apparently on their way to a Wonder Woman 1984 movie set in Washington, today we have a scene from an actual Wonder Woman 1984 movie set in Washington on June 15. In front of the National Archives are parked a half dozen 1970s and 1980s cars preserved for posterity in the CC Archives: Buick Apollo, Volvo 240, Ford Crown Victoria, Chrysler LeBaron woody wagon, Ford LTD II, and a Dodge Diplomat police car. All of them are correct for 1984 except for the Volvo, which is too new with the composite headlights first used in North America in 1986, but that issue will go unnoticed by all but a few moviegoers. Perhaps these cars are waiting for Wonder Woman and the Justice League to finish a meeting in the Department of Justice headquarters visible in the background. Or, as a movie trailer would describe it:
(Ominous music)
In a time of inhumanly over-technological new cars …
An immortal warrior and six survivors from the distant past join forces to fight for justice …
One failing of car-casting in period movies that I did not see touched on yesterday is this: In real 1984, cars from the late 60s and through the 70s would have been common. Not everyone was driving new cars unless you were in the very toniest of neighborhoods. And those neighborhoods (especially in Washington DC) would have been full of Mercedes and BMWs as well as Town Cars and Cadillacs for the older folks.
This scene needs a 76 LTD, a Maverick, a Duster and probably a rusty 68 Country Squire, plus maybe a 280Z and a Corona/Corolla/Civic.
Well, here you have it… here’s a genuine 1984 parking lot scene from the Washington, DC area, full of 1960s and ’70s era cars!
This is a supermarket in Northern Virginia about 20 miles from the National Archives where Robert photographed the Wonder Woman set.
Also interesting here is that of the 11 vehicles in this picture, 7 are two-doors, 3 are four-doors, and 1 is a pickup. Try finding THAT mix in a parking lot today…
These are always some of my favorite things to see here, old parking lot photos. Thanks!
That 1978 or 1979 Chrysler Cordoba looks almost as shabby as the 1965 Mercury!
I just noticed the Cordoba is next to a matching Charger SE. Nice touch!
That store looks like an A&P, rather than “Magruder’s” as the sign says. I thought there were still A&P(s) around when this picture would’ve been taken.
This particular store was sold by A&P to Magruder’s sometime in early/mid 1980s… it was a pretty recent changeover when this picture was taken.
A&P was losing a lot of customers in the early ’80s, and they sold many of their DC-area stores, including this one. By 1986, they only had 21 stores left in the DC region, and they ditched the A&P name altogether and rebranded them as Super Fresh.
Yeah Eric, and now Super Fresh is gone. The one closest to me is now a Giant…
But A&P’s famous “Eight O’Clock Coffee” remains, although most like it’s changes hands a few times since the A&P days. Ironically, it’s what I am currently quaffing here at work (it’s our house coffee in my office).
There are still many former A&P stores around DC; here’s the one I used to go to:
http://www.google.com/maps/place/Randolph+Hills+Shopping+Center/@39.0464581,-77.0997053,3a,75y,160.93h,98.11t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sEH1RvEcGZa9gJLzUx8bX7A!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!4m13!1m7!3m6!1s0x89b7ce9cd805462b:0x75f4e5e007833ddb!2s4860+Boiling+Brook+Pkwy,+North+Bethesda,+MD+20852!3b1!8m2!3d39.0461482!4d-77.0995709!3m4!1s0x89b7ce9d1bdc21c3:0xee80935e884c0266!8m2!3d39.0465692!4d-77.099618
The round A&P logo was where the Mott’s logo is now (Mott’s? It’s changed yet again since I was last there). Magruder’s is long gone now too.
The store to the left of the Magruder’s BTW was Trak Auto, the most ubiquitous auto parts store in the DC area back then with over 300 stores at its peak, owned by Dart Drug and the sister company of Crown Books which were also ubiquitous. They all failed within years of each other, with Advance Auto Parts buying out some of the Trak stores in 1992 and converting them.
I’m trying to remember the name of the other big auto parts store chain in DC in the ’70s and ’80s – they’re long gone too.
Yes, that is the 1984 I remember. Lots of rust and dents, and someone really proud of the late-model Citation. 🙂
Out of the 11, I recognize FOUR Chrysler products, 4, GM, 3 Ford, and NO imports. From this picture, it appears Northern Virginia was a lot poorer and more patriotic then.
The GM cars are the newest, oldest is the 76-77 Cutlass. The LTD Coupe next to the truck is 1979 or later, and all the other Fords and Mopars are pre 1976.
Just ONE pick-up. No SUVs.
Thanks for sharing!
Meanwhile things could be a bit different in the snow belt and the Great White North as shown on Hemmings blog, various photos of automobile landscape of the first half of the 1980s in Toronto.
https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2018/05/14/toronto-1980s/
https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2018/01/24/toronto-ontario-1980s/
https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2015/12/10/toronto-1980-1984/
Those are great street scenes — thanks for sharing them!
Any chance those streetcars are still there?
What I remember from my excursions to Toronto and Montreal in the ’80s was – soooo many Pontiacs. That and low-end trims that weren’t available in the US.
It is about a 10:1 ratio of cars to the one pickup truck. Today, that ratio would be almost reversed of 2 cars to about 8 or 9 trucks/SUVs.
People who drive nice cars don’t go to the grocery on weekday afternoons. On Saturday, all of the empty spaces in this lot would be filled with cars less than 5 years old.
Note that these cars are 5 or 7 years old and completely hooptied. Today, a person with a decent job doesn’t think twice about driving a five year old car. It looks and runs fine.
I believe the Citation is an 1980 model judging by the taillights and the side mirrors.
Very true. I grew up in Maryland and even in the late 1980’s there was 2 or 3 1960’s or 1970’s cars for every shiny 1980’s car. In my neighborhood there was 2 Ford Mavericks in perfectly good running order even until the late 1990’s.
The trouble is that a lot of these same 1950’s, 1960, 1970s cars were wrecked and blown up in 1980’s and 1990’s movies and TV shows.
I think the A Team was responsible for killing off a couple of old cars each episode.
In my suburban NJ neighborhood street in 1984, we had an 84 Chevy Cavalier, an 83 LTD Crown Victoria, an 81 Caprice wagon, a 1980 Oldsmobile Omega, a 1975 Chevy Nova, and a 1978 Cadillac Sedan de Ville
In modest suburban Long Island, summer 1981, between us and 3 neighbors:
1968 Pontiac Tempest 2-dr (elderly widow across street))
1969 VW Station Wagon 2-dr (neighbor)
1979 Caprice 2-door
1973 Pontiac Bonneville 2-door (neighbor)
1980 Datsun 510 4-dr
1975 Pontiac Ventura 2-dr (us)
1980 Ford Fairmont 4-dr, only manual trans
Very true. I wonder if the choice of cars in this case reflects the bright, shiny superhero mystique the film’s trying to project. Wonder Woman strolling down a street filled with clapped-out rustbuckets would have a whole different feel. Interesting, certainly, but different.
It’s being filmed in DC but looking at the fake license plates it’s *set* in New Jersey, on the other side of the salt/no salt line, so these cars seemed to have gotten it about right. It was common for cars to be pretty well used up at the 10-year mark.Failed state inspection on rust, not worth the welding to pass.
At a guess this picture’s taken from the opposite view from actual filming, so the Volvo 240’s too-new headlights are out of shot and the K-car T&C’s window tint less obvious, but I’d have fronted the Skylark in the film with its’ broken grille and missing door trim as it is here
In the past, the vehicle fleet got scrapped much faster. In my modest Midwest suburb in 1979, no one had a car more than about 5 years old exc kids my age. Exc for some recession years, the vehicle fleet replacement rate was in the teens; now it’s about 7 percent.
If I recall correctly, loans for brand-new vehicles were generally limited to 36 months in the 1970s.
A six-year-old car was viewed as old during that time. Styles changed faster, and vehicles didn’t last as long (although rust tended to be more of a problem than actual mechanical failures, at least in Pennsylvania).
I was a young boy during the early 1970s. A car from the late 1950s and early 1960s – particularly the Mopars, with their fins, dashboard-mounted rear-view mirrors and push-button automatic transmissions – seemed both ancient and fascinating at the same time.
It’s a little embarrassing to mention but the other day I realized CHiPs (the late 70’s to early 80’s show) is now on Amazon Prime. I was a rabid fan as a boy when these were first run and binge watched a few the other night. Holy cow the CC spotting is great – (as a show based on the SoCal freeway system can’t help but be) although the same white with black hood Pantera seems to be in the background of very episode, clearly belonging to someone related to the show…
Mr. Klein: If you like CHIPs see if you can find a copy of the 1979 made-for-Tv movie DEATH CAR ON THE FREEWAY. It features the nefarious Freeway Fiddler who’s out roaming the freeway targeting lady drivers — mostly young lady drivers — for DOOM! Stars Shelley Hack, George Hamilton, Frank Gorshin and Peter Graves. Directed by Hal Needham. (I think there’s also a cameo by Dinah Shore).
Jim,
Thanks for letting me know that CHiPs is now available for streaming. Just spent a few hours enjoying it once again. Easily one of my favorite shows from back in the day!
Recent period piece roger628 grades-Caveat-I have not seen The Americans
Fargo Season 2 -B+ They lost points for the Minnesota Highway Patrol Gran Fury being
a 4-door hardtop, and it was a ’75, a little old to be 1979. I saw it as a stand-in for the
1979 St. Regis that it should have been. The ’69 Olds 98 of the Kansas City Mob seemed a little old for the role-I don’t think mobsters drove 10 year old cars. Likewise, the patriarch of the Geerhardt clan is ferried about in 1966 New Yorker, while the sons drive much newer cars. Ted Danson’s 1979 Chevy cop car was almost spot-on, except it was a Caprice. One of the victims of the Geerhardt’s drove a mid-70s Gremlin X.
Other than that, good effort, and the Calgary area filming location ensures a good bit of CCC (Canuck Curbside Classic) spotting.
Mindhunter-A+ Set in 1977 DC , the protagonist’s FBI ’77 Nova nails it, except whoever restored it put a 1969 steering wheel on it. A good sprinkling of Cutlasses, LTD-IIs, and such. Great job.
If you want to see an example of it done very wrong, watch Kill the Irishman, set in late 70s Cleveland. Too much to go into, but just watch it and get back to me.Definite
F there.
Stranger Things season 2 = C-. Why oh why did they put so many newer cars in the Hawkins High parking lot and then fill the Lab parking almost exclusively with pre-’75 iron? Maybe that should be the other way around…unless…the Lab staff didn’t want to risk a “good” car getting sucked into the Upside Down?
You definitely need to watch The Americans, fabulous!
And agree on Mindhunter with the exception that every car is too clean, especially in some of the gravel parking lots, it’s like dirt didn’t exist in the 70’s. The Hertz lots they use several times are always one of my favorite moments and a great touch.
The final season of The Americans will be on Amazon Prime in August.
Agreed that Mindhunter does a nice job, certainly better than most period-themed shows and movies. I’ve seen a couple of discrepancies–like a Panther-body LTD–that wouldn’t have been around in 1977. And not entirely sure if the Fairmonts would have been out yet (probably were just coming out, though, so I’ll give that to them). But all in all, they do a great job and that is a big part of the reason I enjoy that show. It’s neat to see all of the different rental cars the detectives drive in each episode, almost always plain-jane Ford Farimonts, Mavericks, LTDs, LTD IIs, etc., usually in the more “plain” colors. It’s exciting to think that several owners have held onto their very normal/plain cars for 40+ years.
I watched The Americans because I grew up in the early 1980s. While they did a decent job of positioning the period-correct vehicles, I keep seeing lot of newer vehicles from the future in the background or as charachter’s vehicle.
I stopped updating the Goofs: Anachronisms in imdb.com because it got too much work, listing each and every anachronism…
Unfortunately, knowing the nature of so many of these superhero movies, many of these beautiful 80’s cars will end up destroyed.
I wouldn’t worry too much; a lot of car destruction is CGI nowadays.
Since I can’t edit for some reason: a lot of car destruction for the past 20+ years has been CGI.
The car behind the Town & Country and beside the Volvo – is that a ’74-’77 Chrysler Newport / Plymouth Gran Fury / Dodge Monaco? Nice to see them survive!
I was visiting DC over the weekend and we went for an all-day walkabout in that area (north side of the National Mall) Saturday, the day after Robert took the picture. There were a couple of side streets closed and a lot of cranes and containers near the Archives, but otherwise nothing amiss when we first went by at lunch time. We stepped out of the East Wing of the National Gallery of Art, a few blocks to the east, in the late afternoon and saw fire trucks and billowing white smoke across from the Archives. It looked a little odd to me (car fires usually have dark smoke), but we continued our itinerary, moving away from the action. I wonder if the WW production team was staging something.
Wonder Woman *cause* a fire?! Surely you jest, citizen. It must have been the forces of EVIL! 😉
If you watch the Supergirl (1984) and Batman (1989), you will notice some American cars with export taillights that were never used in the United States. Very jarring sight…
In the other CC on the Crown Vics, I mentioned that incorrect, newer cars in movies don’t generally warrant a gripe, unless it’s really obvious.
But this one is different, and it’s because the title is Wonder Woman 1984, It’s right there in the title, so this is one that the production guys should really have made an effort to ensure all the cars are from 1984 or before, I mean, c’mon, how hard is it to have cars from before 1984, and not after.
Also for a 1984 setting I thought it would be common to see a 1975-78 Ford LTD/Mercury Marquis, 1977-79 Chevrolet Caprice Classic, 1979-82 Ford Mustang, 1978-80 Chevrolet Monte Carlo and a 1974-78 Datsun B210
Gaaaaah! I hate this “aw, good enough, who’s gonna know” kind of slackassedness. It seems to be getting worse. ’60s Mopars and ’50s Cadillacs that sound like Subarus when being cranked. A title reading “June, 1957” as a car pulls to a stop, sidemarker lights (not til ’68!) blazing. A car with composite headlamps supposedly in America before late 1983. Kevin Arnold’s family on “The Wonder Years” making a big production of selling their “1963” (no, 1968) Dodge. Al Bundy prattling on in “Married, With Children” about his “Dodge” (no, Plymouth). This is Hollywood we’re talking about; money comes out of them as sweat, piss, snot, and everything else. It just flat isn’t that hard or costly—it’s not!—to come up with a pre-’86 Volvo intact enough to look good onscreen.
</rant>
I agree. I hate it when the cars are wrong in any period piece. These shows usually pride themselves on getting the details of the time period correct, but not when it comes to cars. Sigh.
To be fair regarding the 1986+ Volvo, the producers might not have been able to find a pre 1986 model. All of the Volvo 240s that i see on the road are 1986+. In fact i have not seen a pre 1986 model in 10 years(and that was in the local junk yard) While the pre 1986 Volvo 240s were very robust, they did suffer from biodegradable engine harnesses which were costly replacements and not worth getting the car fixed so the cars were junked
Plus a volvo 240 is a volvo 240, most folks buying a ticket to the movie probably don’t care
Your argument regarding the Volvo is very weak. Browsing the online classified listings such as Hemming and ebay motors, I found a several pre-1986 Volvo 240s (242, 244, and 245) available for sale.
https://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/dealer/volvo/240/2010570.html
The producers could have tried harder, though.
If it’s a background car only seen parked (no CHMSL illumination) with its’ rear to the camera it’ll work though.
…except for the wrong-shape trunk lid, yeah.
DC Comics used the concept of “Infinite Earths” for a long time, so this film is simply showing the planet with both Wonder Woman and early-adopted composite headlights on Volvos. Problem solved.