Fictional History
- [0:18:40] Built by the WEBBER MOTOR CAR CO for a race
from New York to Paris.
- [0:22:00] The "Motor Car of the Future"
- [1:20:55] Six cylinder with an overhead cam.
(The three external exhaust pipes on each side heavily suggest it is a V6, but they are almost certainly fake)
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Real History
- Four "Leslie Specials" were built.
- [Source] Custom built to look like the "Thomas Flyer"
that won the real 1908 New York to Paris race.
- [Source]
The PVC body was mounted on a modified Ford truck frame and powered by
a Ford 260 V-8 and automatic transmission.
(Ford
260 info 260cc = 4.3Litre)
- [Source]
They ... built four white Leslie Specials, out of 1957 Ford pickup
trucks that the studio didn't need anymore.
All four Leslie Specials had automatic transmissions, as Tony
Curtis couldn't drive a manual.
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Current
Whereabouts
- [Source]
One car is in the Tupelo Automobile Museum in Mississipi. More
info
Update: This car was sold at auction to a private buyer in 2019. More info
- [Source] One car is in the Stahl Auto Museum in Chesterfield, Michigan.
- One car was destroyed for a scene in the 1969 film "The Good Guys and
the Bad Guys". See below.
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Previous
Sightings
- [Source]
One car was repainted red, and used in the 1969 film "The Good Guys and
the Bad Guys". It gets cut in half by a train.
(Front
and read mudguards have been modified, wheel colour changed, and the
fake exhaust pipes removed, but you can still see where they were on
the engine cover.)
- [Source]
One car was repainted green, and used in the 1970 movie "The Ballad of
Cable Hogue".
- Probably a different car is now in the Stahl Motor
Museum in Detroit.
The headlights are now different, looks like the original shell with a
modern sealed beam inside it.
[Link]
Detailed Youtube video from 29-June-2014, of the Stahl car.
- [Link]
One "Leslie Special" was on display at "The Peterson Automotive Museum,
Los Angeles, California"
and another at "Tupelo Automobile Museum in Tupelo, MS"
- [Link]
Photo of the Stahl Leslie Special at the 2014 Great Race
- [Link] The Stahl Leslie Special and Hannibal 8 both at the "The Great Race" 50th Anniversary Screening in San Rafael CA in 2016.
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Other cars
[Video
Link] 1912
Overland Touring Car, seen in early parts of the movie.
Now at Museum of Transportation in St. Louis, Missouri
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How many
Champagne bottles?
- [0:32:57] Tent on beach (Seven in an ice bucket, Leslie opens one)
- [1:00:18] Dance Hall (already open)
- [1:23:30] On the iceberg. I guess there was no problem cooling it!
- [1:33:00] On the iceberg. Leslie puts a note into an empty bottle, to cast adrift.
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