THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 16, 1994 TAG: 9410140234
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANK ROBERTS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 93 lines
Ed Noble, yonder in Gates County, had it in '90 and still has it.
Four years ago it was sort-of a movie star. For the last year or so it has been sporting a ``for sale'' sign.
It sits nobly in the Noble yard, its lifestyle a far cry from its appearance in a movie called ``Deuce Coupe.''
The flick was filmed in Suffolk and Franklin, enjoyed a full-house world premiere at the Armory Drive Cinema in Franklin and then landed in oblivion.
To the surprise of many folks, the car-chase movie was not bad at all. Its actors were respectable - Cindy Williams (from ``Laverne and Shirley'') and Paul Le Mat.
He was behind the wheel of the mystery trivia black car, which had a star and the word ``sheriff'' painted on the side and a flashing light atop.
A variety of people did the chasing - Le Mat for the close-up scenes, a stunt driver for the dangerous stuff, Noble himself sitting in for the temperamental actor.
It was on a coooold day, and the character actor wanted to be driven to his trailer. The producer said something like ``heckwiththat'' and let Noble do the driving for an important scene.
For his efforts, plus use of the car, which Noble bought from a banker who bought it from a banker, Airtight Filmworks of Pasadena paid him $50 a day.
In return, he kept the car clean so they could get it dirty chasing the bad guys down the back roads.
During the filming there was publicity galore. Today, it seems for naught. No one, aside from those at the premiere, has ever seen the movie - no one knows the locale of ``Deuce Coupe.''
The question, as you have probably figured out, is - what kind of car was it?
What kind of questions are these? Tricky trivia.
1. Name the president who worked as a barker for the wheel-of-chance at the Slippery Gulch Rodeo in Prescott, Ariz. Hint: It's not who you think.
2. What famous '60s singer - known for ``Honey'' - toured with Roy Orbison's band?
3. Buddy Holly co-authored one of his hits, ``Maybe Baby.'' Who was his co-author?
4. Another for you rockers. Who played harmonica on Millie Small's 1964 hit, ``My Boy Lollipop?''
5. If you know your Bible, this should not prove difficult. Who said, ``I am escaped with the skin of my teeth''? Hint: It was not my dentist. Answers are on Page 15
As for that car, cleverly disguised as a sheriff's vehicle, it was a 1949 DeSoto.
Incidentally, the multitudinous bad guy cars were provided by Wolfpack, a Virginia Beach hot rod club.
The DeSoto sounds like it was one of those cars driven only on Sundays by a little, old, church-going lady. It had only 69,000 miles on it.
Noble, the vehicle's owner, at that time had a 1984 Chevrolet with 94,000 miles and a 1975 Chevy van with 173,000.
The DeSoto's original owner lived in Vineland, N.J. Its next owner was an Elizabeth City gentleman from whom Noble bought the car in 1987.
The DeSoto, in its day a high-priced vehicle, used to sell new for $995. Lordy - you can barely buy a set of tires for that these days.
When Noble was showing it off, the car won a couple of first-place trophies - one for best-in-class, one for best unrestored vehicle.
The car, which gets more than 24 miles to the gallon - not bad - has a heater, defroster, AM radio and both automatic and stick shift.
FM was as non-existent as copies of the movie in which it appears, ``Deuce Coupe.''
There were five more questions, so here are five more answers.
1. The president who worked as a barker for the wheel-of-chance in Arizona, at the Slippery Gulch Rodeo, was slippery Richard Nixon. Many folks might have guessed Reagan because of his showbiz background.
2. Bobby Goldsboro began his professional career touring with Roy Orbison's band.
3. Buddy Holly's ``Maybe Baby'' co-author was his mom, Ella.
4. That harmonica you hear on ``My Boy Lollipop'' is our boy, Rod Stewart.
5. ``I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.'' That was from the Old Testament, the Book of Job. ILLUSTRATION: File staff photo
``Deuce Coupe'' starred in a car-chase film that was shot in
Suffolk and Franklin in 1989. Now it has a For Sale sign on it.
Photo
Rod Stewart
by CNB