I'll show you what a wombat can really do!

[womzilla]

sarah_ovenall has made a major zoological discovery: Aerial wombats!

The weirdest thing about [The Young in Heart] was the appearance of "The Flying Wombat," a car company with whom Roland Young takes a job as a salesman. An old friend of mine is mysteriously associated with the wombat. When they first mention the Flying Wombat (I think the line was "Be at the Wombat offices at 9 am tomorrow") I was like, "did he just say wombat?" And when they showed the Wombat business card I literally jumped out of my seat to hit the record button. Images of the Wombat logo/storefront only show up a couple of times, but there is a lot of hilarious dialogue like "As soon as we get around this bend, I'll show you what the Wombat can really do!" and "He'll never give up his beloved Wombat." Hilarious, that is, if you know a wombat.

No wombats were harmed in the making of this movie. (Actually, the part of the Flying Wombat was played by the 1938 Phantom Corsair, a concept car created by one of the heirs to the Heinz fortune. It even sort of looks like a wombat, except, you know, as a 1930s sports concept car.)

ETA: A Corsair fan posted clips from the film on YouTube. "If I were to say the Wombat is the last word in mechanical perfection, I would be withholding the truth. The Wombat is above mechanical perfection. The Wombat is ahead of its time--as far ahead of its time as . . . well, as Socrates of his." Thanks again to Sarah for finding these.

Comments

[washa-way.livejournal.com]

That is one rockin' automobile.

On the other hand, the thought of aerial wombats fills me with concern, if only because I can scarcely imagine the results of aerial wombats festooning statues and bridges with their guano.

[womzilla.livejournal.com]

Wombats digestive systems are incredibly efficient and leave behind almost nothing. Their scat is very dry, inoffensive, and (by a mechanism I simply do not want to contemplate) cubical.

[washa-way.livejournal.com]

Great. So it's less like being out in a warm spring shower and more like offending a room full of gamers and being pelted with dice.

[sarah-ovenall.livejournal.com]

The car in the movie, as impressive as it was, didn't look as impressive as that photo you linked to. I guess they never showed it from that angle.

I think the best part was the slogan: "Flying Wombat: The Car that Thinks For You!"

[womzilla.livejournal.com]

That puts a lot of responsibility on a Wombat. Next thing you know, they'll be blaming wombats for credit default swaps.

[sarah-ovenall.livejournal.com]

Do wombats eat acorns? If so you've got a readymade conspiracy theory.

[del-c.livejournal.com]

It looks like a Thirties concept Batmobile (Wombatmobile!)

The fender looks lethal, like it could dice your legs.

[womzilla.livejournal.com]

The earliest versions of the Batmobile were closely based on the 1936 Cord Convertible. (There is, of course, a gallery of Batmobile designs through the ages (http://www.batmobilehistory.com/1941prebat-batmobile.php). But yes, you're absolutely right that the Corsair looks more like a Batmobile than the Batmobile of the time did!