Fireball Tim's Blog, page 54

What’s the awesome Fireball Connection to THE MOD SQUAD??

THE MOD SQUAD was a Crime Series that ran for 5 years on ABC from 1968-73. Series creator Buddy Ruskin, a former Los Angeles Police Officer, used his experiences with a special L.A.P.D. youth squad as the basis for this show. This was the precursor to 21 JUMP STREET.

As I grew up in SoCal like many, THE MOD SQUAD was a great show to watch as the stars were nearly kids all in their early twenties, and we wanted to be just like them. But the coolest thing about the series was that Fireball Pop wrote several episodes, one being “Captain Greer, Call Surgery” in 1968.

We were glued to the TV as these 3 youngsters solved mystery after mystery… and drove cool cars like this 1971 DODGE CHALLENGER. My brother’s fell in love with Peggy Lipton, my sister went for the dudes and I was all about the CAR.

Night after night, Pop’s episodes would air from many series and we got to see how they were made from the inside. In fact, I remember seeing two episodes in one night, one being MOD SQUAD on one being HAWAII 5-O! (Yes, McGarrett’s Car will be SKETCHED soon too!)

But for now, check out this cool convertible MUSCLE CAR in Fireball’s Garage on a bunch of cool NEW items and let those trumpets roar!! MORE COOL CARS COMING!



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This is how we create a GENUINE & HAPPY EASTER…

Many people don’t actually know much about the History of Easter. Some may think it’s supremely important and others… just want to hunt for eggs and have fun.

But whatever your EASTER experience, the important thing is to think about family and friends. We know that we GET what we GIVE, so giving KIND WORDS, KIND GESTURES or KIND THOUGHTS warms the soul and vibrates GOODNESS into the world. This is what the Bible talks about. BELIEVE that you have a good life… and it will be DONE.

I’m not a religious man, but I do know that my life gets BETTER and BETTER the more I think about what I want and put POSITIVE VIBRATIONS in the Universe. You can too. It’s easy, but you have to REMEMBER every day. So make it a habit to THINK & FEEL GOOD. Then watch as the world pivots around you to create a THE FIREBALL GOOD LIFE.

You may not always get what you want… but you ALWAYS get what you need. Have a wonderful EASTER, my friends!

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Has Fireball SKETCHED your favorite awesome DIECAST yet??

Fireball has done tons of CARS… In fact, it’s HUNDREDS. But some of the his favorites like you, are the tiny ones… like HOT WHEELS.

Do you have a FAVORITE CUSTOM DIECAST? Then get Fireball to bust out a SKETCH just for you or your favorite HUMAN! An amazing gift that not only creates a COOL CAR, but 10% of all Commissions goes to DOG RESCUES! So… SKETCH a CAR, PET a PUP as we say!

Take a look at some of these SWEET SIXTEENS and tell Fireball what you’d like to see next. Better yet, REACH OUT and have him SKETCH your fav!

DID YOU KNOW?? Since 1968, more than 4 billion Hot Wheels cars have been produced. YIKES!

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New GREEN HORNET Art and MORE buzzes into THE GARAGE…

Although THE GREEN HORNET Series only lasted 26 episodes on ABC from 1966-1967, it went down in Pop Culture History as a Crime Fighting duo of Destruction. Probably because Britt Reid (AKA The Green Hornet) was actually created by the same people who created The Lone Ranger… and was said to be the great-nephew of the Western Hero! Yes, they were in the same Universe. Now that’s a Universe that I’d like to see happen like 1886 to Yellowstone.

But the BLACK BEAUTY is still today one of the most Iconic TV Cars ever built. Listen to builder DEAN JEFFRIES talk all about it below…

Get Fireball’s NEW CANVAS PRINTS, CLOCKS & SHIRTS now available in the Garage and don’t forget… (Commission Fireball to do YOUR CAR! Here’s how…)

DID YOU KNOW??In the late fall of 1965, Bruce Lee got the call from the Studio—The Green Hornet was a go.  He then moved his family to L.A. in March 1966. It was a small apartment at Wilshire and Gayley in Westwood (in a nice area,) and it was the very first home of their own. Bruce was going to be paid $400 per episode. Wow.



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THE FALL GUY leaps into the Fireball Garage with NEW ART!

To celebrate the upcoming film on May 3rd, Fireball busts out THE FALL GUY 1980’s GMC K-2500 with MORE NEW ART in THE GARAGE!

With movies like SMOKEY & THE BANDIT in 1977 and HOOPER in 1978, Producers got the message that STORIES about STUNTMEN were solid and UNIQUE. And Lee Majors as Colt Seavers would be a hit. And it was…

The show ran from 1981-1986 on ABC and we loved it. Will the movie take off the same way? Tough to tell… as again, it’s a REMAKE and they rarely work. But for now, enjoy this Fireball Garage Art and let us know what he should SKETCH NEXT!

DID YOU KNOW?? Lee Majors could have been a burned out 70’s star during the 80’s… much like Burt Reynolds and John Travolta. But the former Six Million Dollar Man resurrected his career yet again with “The Fall Guy.” Majors played Colt Seavers, a working class Hollywood stuntman who moonlights as a bounty hunter.

(Commission Fireball to do YOUR CAR! Here’s how…)



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Who doesn’t love a big CHARACTER CAR Wiener… um, WINNER

CHARACTER CARS have been built for years and used successfully in promotion and marketing for films and products. But the one that is probably the most famous is the OSCAR MAYER WIENERMOBILE. It’s gone through some iterations but has proved that these kinds of cars can be effective, fun and sometimes eye-popping. In fact, some people are actually offended by it…

Whatever, dude. The OMW has been a fun thing to car to see for years and begs the idea of MORE CHARACTER CARS. What’s a product that would make for a fun ride??

DID YOU KNOW?? The Oscar Mayer Wienermobile was first created in 1936 and was not Oscar Mayer’s idea (yes, the brand’s namesake was a real guy). It actually came from Mayer’s nephew, Carl. In 1936, Carl approached his uncle with the idea to create a giant hot dog that would act as a marketing tool for the brand throughout Chicago.



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This CLASSIC MONSTER SERIES made best use of COOL CARS…

But we wanted more…

Every attempt to remake THE MUNSTERS failed miserably. Maybe it’s because they were remakes? When THE MUNSTERS came out, it was original. Unique. No one had ever seen anything like this before! And to try and remake something original is like reinventing the BALL. Note to Hollywood… Come up with something UNIQUE.

Each character in THE MUNSTERS was developed and flushed out, including THE CARS. The KOACH and the DRAGULA made sense because of the consistent DESIGN LANGUAGE. Like BARBIE. But so many choose the easy path in REMAKES because they think that it will MAKE MONEY. It rarely does… and SEQUELS do better.

But, it’s best to go old skool and just use your brain a bit more to come up with a new plan. Indiana Jones Meets I Love Lucy. Jurassic Park meets Superman. Or what about this… Come up with something that NO ONE HAS EVER SEEN BEFORE. They did that in the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. Pretty sure it would work now…

**Get Fireball’s MUNSTERS KOACH or DRAGULA in the GARAGE on super cool stuff!!

DID YOU KNOW?? Joe Connelly and Bob Mosher’s credo while producing and writing for the classic family sitcom Leave it to Beaver was “write what you know.” Between them they had six children and they based a lot of their plots on their own home lives. They used this same philosophy when they created a sitcom about a suburban blue-collar family that just happened to be comprised of monsters. They didn’t want children to be frightened of the characters (as they might be when watching Frankenstein or Dracula during the Saturday afternoon “Creature Feature”), so they made Herman a typical working dad who carried a lunch box to work every day and who imparted homespun wisdom to his young son. The mother was caring and nurturing, even if she did serve rolled hyena foot roast for dinner, and an aging grandparent (who had a laboratory in the dungeon) lived with the family. All in all, a nice slice of down-home Americana.



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These BOND CARS are more famous than most ACTORS…

Anyone who says that adding a COOL CAR into a film or series would be RIGHT. And SKETCHING ALL OF THEM is my goal for you guys here at Fireball!

Today, we’re celebrating BOND CARS IN FILM with these 3 beauties from THUNDERBALL, THE SPY WHO LOVED ME and DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER. What was YOUR favorite Bond Film or Bond Car? And what should I SKETCH next?? LEAVE A COMMENT!

**Get Fireball’s Bond Cars on MUGS and MORE in the Garage STORE!

DID YOU KNOW?? Once underwater, the car (also known as “Wet Nellie,”) converts into a submarine with surface-to-air missiles, torpedoes, a smoke screen, and a mine launcher. This is one of seven wet submersibles built for filming, each meant to represent stages of the Lotus’s transformation. It’s now worth about a Million Bucks!

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Up Close and Personal with tough guy THOMAS MAGNUM…

The car I was really looking forward to SKETCHING was Thomas Magnum’s FERRARI 308 GTS. Technically, it belonged to Higgins but who cares… This Ferrari became an Icon in Automotive Lore and cemented Pop Culture PI’s for years to come. And it’s what modern TV Shows are missing.

Now, they did do a modern Magnum PI, but it was lacking in so many ways that we don’t even want to get started. Remakes rarely work, but what do you think was the BEST PART of the original?? You guessed it… STORY. Stories about People, enhanced by Action, Comedy, Location and a few other tidbits. But again, STORY IS KING.

And the stories over the 10 year run of Magnum were hard to wait each week for as they all took place in PARADISE!

Get Thomas’ FERRARI in the GARAGE on a bunch of cool stuff including BEACH TOWELS!

DID YOU KNOW?? Magnum, P.I. made its premiere on CBS in 1980, the same year the network’s long-running Hawaii Five-0 was taking its final bow (My Dad wrote 9 episodes of H5O!). Magnum’s location was picked because the network didn’t want to let its Hawaiian Production facilities go to waste, so the Tom Selleck show filmed many of its indoor scenes on the old Hawaii Five-0 Soundstage!

The two shows are even set in the same universe, as Thomas Magnum would make references to Detective Steve McGarrett, who was famously played by Jack Lord on Hawaii Five-0. Though Lord never did accept the offer to make a cameo, the link between the two shows was never broken.



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There’s nothing better than designing CARS LIKE THESE…

The fun thing about designing CARS for FILM is that you can let your imagination run wild… Especially when you’re doing a car that belongs to the main characters.

Whether it’s the NINJA TURTLES, SPEED RACER, STAR WARS or even if the main character is THE ACTUAL CAR like THE BIG BUS… you’re only limitation is what’s written in the script. And sometimes… there’s no limitation at all.

Today at Fireball, we celebrate many of those characters by bringing you coolness on CANVAS, STICKERS and a host of neat items. SEARCH your favorite MOVIE or TV Show in THE GARAGE to see what we have… and if you’re favorite car isn’t in there yet, LET FIREBALL KNOW in the comments! The goal is to get THEM ALL in there over the next few years… and MORE.

But these SKETCHES aren’t limited to CARS as there’s also SPACESHIPS, ROBOTS and many other cool items coming down the pike. So let ‘er rip!

DID YOU KNOW?? Fireball buddy ROB PAULSEN is the VOICE of TMNT’s Raphael and Donatello and many others like ANIMANIACS, PINKY & THE BRAIN and THE MASK! He’s also got his own COLORING BOOK!

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