brucep

Anybody know the history/whereabouts of the Corvette shown on the Beach Boy's "Shut Down Vol. 2" album cover?

See a picture here. It even shows part of the plate number.

http://www.thebeachboys.50g.com/_fra...boys/sdv02.jpg

If you click on the link on error screen that pops up from here, you go to the right place.

BarryK

I have no idea what would have happened to the Vette, but am I identifiying that correctly as a '64?

Sam's 66

Looks like a split window coupe to me....look closely at the rear window....??

SWCDuke

Wheelcovers, too. It's a '63. I think several of the Beachboys owned Corvettes, so it's probably one of their personal cars.

Duke

brucep

Title song is about a Vette too.

Tach it up, tach it up
Buddy gonna shut you down

It happened on the strip where the road is wide
Two cool sharps standin side by side
Yeah, my fuel injected stingray and a four-thirteen
Were revvin’ up our engines and it sounds real mean

Tach it up, tach it up
Buddy gonna shut you down

Declinin’ numbers at an even rate
At the count of one we both accelerate
My stingray is light the slicks are startin’ to spin
But the four-thirteen’s really diggen’ in

Gotta be cool now power shift here we go

Superstock dodge is winding out in low
But my fuel injected stingray’s really startin’ to go
I’m gettin’ the traction I’m ridin’ the clutch
My pressure plate’s burnin’ that machine’s too much

Pedal’s to the floor hear the dual quads drink
And now the four-thirteen’s lead is startin’ to shrink
He’s powered by ram induction but it’s understood
I got a fuel injected engine sittin’ under my hood

Shut it off, shut it off buddy now I shut you down
Shut it off, shut it off buddy now I shut you down
Shut it off, shut it off buddy now I shut you down
Shut it off, shut it off buddy now I shut you down

Tom Piper

The coupe outside windshield moulding is from a '63.
The '64 to '67 had different moulding.

Tom Piper

Paul L

I bought that 33 1/3 album in the summer of 1963 (still have it). It's that model year.

00fxd

Tough to take that pic in '63 when there is a '66-'67 Pontiac [Tempest/GTO?] sitting beside it. I don't see any grilles in the hood making the Corvette a '63 so I think it's a '64 altho the pic quality is a little blury.

63Corvette

It's DEFINITELY a 63. However, the Poncho is not a GTO, but an earlier Catalina, the type you used to see with the AlFin brake drums and special centerless wheels. Maybe a Superduty 421???

guycummins

Wow, that pulled me down memory lane! Thanks for posting that Bruce. I agree with Sam's66. It sure looks like a split window. As for it's whereabouts... I checked the garage. It's not at my house.

BarryK

maybe it's my eyes but I can't see the split because of the way eveyone is positioned. I guessed a '64 because I didn't see the "grills" in the hood insets.
Oh well, I won't doubt the rest of you though

Paul L

My bad! That album was released on March 16, 1964. It's been awhile....The car on the right is a 1964 Pontiac Grand Prix.

brucep

I was inspired to by an interview of Brian Wilson last night on Larry King. The album cover showing the C2 was flashed momentarily during the broadcast.

jerrybramlett

Actually, it's "two cool SHORTS" standing side by side.

I don't recall any of the Beach Boys owning Corvettes, even during the sixties. They weren't into cars. The car song lyrics like "409" were written with help from a D.J. friend who really had a 409. Maybe I missed something though. Does anyone have a photo showing one of them next to a Corvette that they owned?

The cars they drove that I remember were foreign. No joke. Dennis intentionally set his baby blue Ferrari on fire one night outside a bar. I think Carl had a Bentley, and Mike Love had one of those fruity looking wire wheel MG's. What a bunch of *****.

Now Jan and Dean were another story. They went though a bunch of Corvettes during their few years together prior to Jan's crash. Peter Fonda bought a new '65 396 coupe without a heater. Off the top of my head, I can't think of any other celebrity Corvette owners during the mid-sixties. By the late sixties there was James Garner and possibly Roy Orbison. Dan Blocker was into performance Chevrolets but I can't imagine him fitting into a Corvette. GM gave away performace cars to some celebrity advertising spokesmen too. I think O.J. "Killer" Simpson got a '69 396 Camaro. The Smothers Brothers drag raced an Oldsmobile in 1968. George Maharis got a nasty looking black FI '62 with blackwalls during the filming of the Route '66 series.

Ricky Nelson had a maroon '63 Avanti. A bunch of other Hollywood types drove '63 Avanti's too. I always wondered about that.... did Studebaker give them away for publicity? I remember that Steve McQueen, Bill Cosby, and several other TV/movie stars bought new Cobras.

brucep

Their DJ friend was Gary Usher. According to him, he never really ever owned a 409, but along with Dennis Wilson he raced a 426 Plymouth Hemi Superstock in the Los Angeles area during the early '60s.

from the forward of The Illustrated Discography of Hot Rod Music, 1961-1965.
Author: BLAIR, John & McPARLAND, Stephen J.


"Throughout the years, I have been asked countless times how I became involved with hot rod music and I usually respond by explaining how I wrote the song 409 with Brian Wilson. This song, as I'm sure most of you know, went on to become the first of many car hits during the early and mid-sixties. However, the beginning really goes back to 1960-61 when, as a Titan Records recording artist, I performed with Carol Conners and Ginger Blake (later of the Honeys) at the Orange Show Fairgrounds in San Bernardino. The host disc jokey was none other that Roger (hot rod) Christian from KFWB radio.
After the show, Roger and I struck up a friendship that centered around his car, a customized 1955 Corvette. Ginger drove my car home and I "flew" home with Roger at an average speed of 90 miles per hour! Roger was equally fascinated with my 348 cubic inch Chevy. When he discovered I spent my weekends drag racing with Paul Peterson at the San Fernando Airport Dragstrip, we became inseparable. I should add that this occurred before I had the good fortune of meeting and working with the Beach Boys.

I recall many times driving to Hollywood and meeting Roger after he got off the air at midnight. There was a coffee shop below KFWB where we would sit and talk about cars until dawn. Little did we realize that this was the beginning of a trend that Stephen McParland and John Blair have documented on the following pages.

The height of the hot rod fad climaxed during a one month period when Roger and I actually wrote, and I recorded, over 50 car songs. By that time, I had purchased a new 426 Plymouth Hemi Superstock. It's interesting that I never did own a 409 Chevy; by the time I had "saved my dimes," the 426 was considerably faster. I should add that I won many events at the San Fernando dragstrip with my 426 and a young, exuberant Dennis Wilson by my side.

It's funny to note that as a result of my sucess with the Beach Boys and other recording artists, I was able to buy a new sky blue Cadillac Coupe de Ville. Many of my close friends accused me of selling out!!

It was a great period for the "California Sound" and for my life as well. It was a time of simplicity, innocence, surfing, cars, and musical innovation. I can clearly recall many nights at the local drive-in with Brian and myself, a couple of girls, and a six-pack, singing songs like Sherry, Soldier Boy, Locomotion, and Palisades Park at the top of our lungs.

From 409 to Let's Go To Heaven In My Car, I have a feeling we've somehow covered it all. As they say, "Those were the good ol' days."

Gary Usher

w1ctc

Along the lines, were the Vettes from "Rt. 66" saved?

396 RAT

jerrybramlett,
Remember Bill Cosby's twin Paxton 427 Cobra?
A bit blurry in my head, but I think it was probably
the baddest car I can think of owned by the "Rich and famous"
of that era (or any other)
As I recall only a few were built.
Anyone remember the details?

kbuhagiar

Bill Cosby did a hilarious routine about the Cobra on one of his albums; I believe it was called "200MPH".

MikeM

If this guy Gary Usher wrote "409" then that might explain why I was told years ago that the engine sound in this song was actually a 350/348 and not a 409/409. It must have been Gary's car.

JohnZ

Two of those were built (both automatics) - the first one for Cosby, and the second one for Shelby; one of the later buyers of those cars killed himself in it in Topanga Canyon one night, dunno what happened to the other one.