THE LIVELY SET (1962)

Starred James Darren, Pamela Tiffen, and the Chrysler Turbine car in this remake of the 1954 William Alland production of Johnny Dark.

The movie is loaded with great cars such as 1960's NASCAR stockers, street rods, jet-engined dragsters, and Bonneville salt flat racers. The plot has Darren as a street rod driving college student who built a record setting jet-engined drag racer in his spare time. A rich industrialist discovers Darren's talents with jets, and convinces him to build both a turbine powered Bonneville land speed racer and road racer that would win the Tri-State Endurance race for him. Darren builds the Bonneville car, but with disastrous results! The industrialist is embarrassed and fires Darren, vowing to junk all remnants of the turbine and race a conventional powered car (Dual Ghia) in the Tri-State. Darren then confiscates the scraps from the Bonneville racer and makes his own turbine-powered road racer so he can win the Tri-State and avenge his design. The homebuilt car that results looks suspiciously like the Chrysler Turbine Car, because it is! You'll never guess who eventually wins the Tri-State Endurance race! Okay, so the whole thing is preposterous. Just suspend reality for 90-minutes and have some fun! This one gets a must-see, 5-star Rating!