R.I.P. Pete Chapouris....

I was saddened to hear about the recent passing of Pete Chapouris due to a stroke. He was 76. He was a major partner in "Pete&Jakes" a company that sold street rod and hot rod parts-straight axles with disc brakes for '55-57 Chevys, block hugger headers, rack and pinion steering setups etc.  However he's probably best known as the builder of the "California Kid" the Iconic black and flamed '34 Ford driven by Martin Sheen in the movie-duh-"The California Kid".  It was made in 1974 for ABC TV as a "movie of the week"-they had that back then. It was a simple revenge tale, set in 1958 but it had a lot of star power. Vic Morrow was a sadistic small-town sheriff who ran speeders off the curvy mountain road outside his town in his hopped up Hemi-powered cop car. Ironically-this followed his turn as a-you guessed it-maniacal sheriff chasing Peter Fonda and Susan George in "Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry." Talk about typecasting. Martin Sheen was the older brother of one of his victims who comes to town seeking vengenance. Nick Nolte was the bullied town mechanic who teams up with Sheen to get the sheriff after his own little brother is killed, in an "accident" running away from Morrow. Michelle Phillips is both sexy and sad as a lonely waitress who wants to have an affair with Sheen, but circumstances don't allow it. The final showdown on the country road plays well even today. Although it was a low-budget made for TV flick-it was a huge hit, and really boosted Martin Sheen's career. He went on to star in "Apocalypse Now" and many other movies, as well as playing the president on the hit TV show "The West Wing".  Nick Nolte went on to stardom in "Rich Man, Poor Man", "The Deep" and "48 Hrs".  Michelle Phillips was on the "Dallas"-spin-off  "Knots Landing" in the '80s. Sadly, Vic Morrow was killed in 1982 while filming a "Twilight Zone" movie. A helicopter in an action scene crashed, killing the pilot,Morrow, and two child actors who were in the scene. Anyhow the movie has a "cult" following to this day, and the car still exists-you see it at a lot of hot rod shows, escpecially in southern California. Pete was a pioneer who showed that "Old School" was still cool, and remained active in racing and hot rodding until his untimely demise. May he rest in Valhalla!  Mastermind