Last Updated: May 06. 2010 1:00AM
Car Culture
Database spotlights cars on TV, film
Melissa Preddy
Car enthusiasts who enjoy the pleasures of the big screen when they're not peering through the windscreen probably have had that nagging feeling while watching old movies and TV shows.

The glimpse of a grille, the tilt of a taillight, the curve of a fender all distract us from the plots as we ponder: "Is that a Crown Victoria? Is it even a Ford?" We peer through grainy footage to discern a badge or an emblem or a distinctive dashboard.

Gnawing over one such identification quandary recently, I Googled and stumbled across the mother lode: the Internet Movie Car Database. Gnaw no longer, because answers to your cinematic car-casting queries are a few clicks away. Just beware; this site is so addictive it should come with a warning label.

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First things first
With just a few clicks, it assured me that the black-over-brown boxy landau spotted in a retro detective show was indeed a 1973 Crown Vic. Then I could focus again on finding the killer.

Like the similarly named Internet Movie Database, the IMCDb is a searchable repository of movie and TV credits and filmographies. The stars in question sport four wheels, but the quantity of data, trivia, photos and information is just as vast.

Whether it's the Maybach 62 from a 2007 episode of "Dirty Sexy Money" or the Model T from the 1919 feature flick "A Day's Pleasure," it appears to be here. The site is searchable by make and model, or by the title of a film or television series. Querying "Ford Model T" pulls up 19 pages of information, with 25 hits per page -- each accompanied by a still photo from the show or movie in question.

Maintained by users and fans, the funky-looking site even refines the taxonomy by noting whether a vehicle (including trucks and bikes) was high up in the pecking order or only a bit player. Notations like "driven by a major character," "featured only in deleted scenes" or "minor action vehicle" abound.

The ICMDb message board boasts brisk traffic, with members debating whether James Garner drove a GMC Sierra in "The Rockford Files" or if it's ethical to really demolish classic muscle cars in the name of exciting movie scenes. (I should say not!)

The site's stats link claims tens of thousands of entries from nearly 13,000 movies, featuring tens of thousands of cars. Ford Motor Co. pretty much laps the competition with 33,319 entries. That makes sense -- Ford has been an early and enthusiastic player in entertainment sponsorship, going back to radio-theater days in the 1940s all the way to its powerhouse "American Idol" tie-in today.

Chevrolet is No. 2 with 19,077 entries, with other American brands further down the scale. Many overseas marques are way up there, too, like Opel and Citroen, reflecting the site's heavy European membership. For the armchair sleuth, more than 9,700 posted cars are as yet unidentified.

Background players get their due. I searched on "Psycho" and found the 1956 Ford Mainline (what a name!) that a doomed Janet Leigh ditched in favor of the '57 Ford Custom 300 that ultimately took her to a watery grave. About 15 other still photos from the Hitchcock classic document vehicles buzzing by in the background of key scenes, from a '55 Dodge C-3 pick-up to snazzy sedans like the Mercury Montlair and Pontiac Chieftain Catalina.

Hey, that's my ...
Do we even care that Darrin in "Bewitched" drove a Chevy Camaro, that the Studebaker was a major placement coup in "Mr. Ed" or that an ambulance in "Grey's Anatomy" is thought to be based on a 1992 Ford Econoline platform?

"Why in the world would it even matter to anybody?" echoed Jay May, a veteran Hollywood props master and CEO of the Los Angeles product-placement firm Feature This!

"There is a good reason," May said. "I call it the 'that's my ..!' effect. When you're at the movies and Kate Hudson goes to her car and it's a red 1978 Gremlin, you nudge the person next to you and say, 'That's my old car!'

"You feel good, and now you even kind of miss that old clunker you hated 20 years ago."

Melissa Preddy is a Michigan-based freelance journalist. Reach her via mpreddy@aol.com

1973 Crown Victoria?