Established cars

[The KKM]

Just something I was pondering.

Donald has, of course, the 313. Grandma Duck has her, uh, dunno if there's a name for her car, but it's also a well-established one - looks like a Detroit Electric, etc. Fantomallard also has his own specific car, that doesn't change from story to story.

From there, things get vaguer. I don't recall Goofy having a specific car design, it's always just some variation on "it's an old rickety thing falling apart". Gladstone has a generic "really good sports car". Scrooge will have some sort of limo- I think the Italians use a specific design, but otherwise, it's not as well established. In old Brazillian stories, Gyro had a flying saucer.

Am I missing any? I'm wondering. Does Mickey also have an established car and I just never noticed? Does Daisy? Does Minnie? Are any characters ever shown owning not a car but something else? I recall Dickie Duck's second story has her drive a one-wheeled scooter, but it's the only one I recall.

[Scrooge MacDuck]

Jul 27, 2017 21:56:45 GMT The KKM said:

Just something I was pondering.

Donald has, of course, the 313. Grandma Duck has her, uh, dunno if there's a name for her car, but it's also a well-established one - looks like a Detroit Electric, etc. Fantomallard also has his own specific car, that doesn't change from story to story.

From there, things get vaguer. I don't recall Goofy having a specific car design, it's always just some variation on "it's an old rickety thing falling apart". Gladstone has a generic "really good sports car". Scrooge will have some sort of limo- I think the Italians use a specific design, but otherwise, it's not as well established. In old Brazillian stories, Gyro had a flying saucer.

Am I missing any? I'm wondering. Does Mickey also have an established car and I just never noticed? Does Daisy? Does Minnie? Are any characters ever shown owning not a car but something else? I recall Dickie Duck's second story has her drive a one-wheeled scooter, but it's the only one I recall.

I recommend you check this page of Gilles Maurice's ever-instructive, if defunct, website. Most notably, Mickey has a regular car in Italy, apparently created by Scarpa, registered "113".

[sirredknee]

I'm more familiar with the cars Murry gave to Mickey and Goofy, later reused by Tello.

coa.inducks.org/s.php?c=W+WDC+182-11P
coa.inducks.org/s.php?c=W+MM++160-01
coa.inducks.org/s.php?c=W+WDC+417-05

[The KKM]

Tangentially related (and thanks for the link, Scrooge!), I vaguely remember a story where Scrooge has to win a race using an old old old car he'd first used when coming to Duckburg, and the car is falling apart but that's an advantage in the end as he can easily rebuild it to fit the needs of the obstacles in the race.

Does this mean anything to anyone?

[Scrooge MacDuck]

Jul 27, 2017 22:25:58 GMT The KKM said:

Tangentially related (and thanks for the link, Scrooge!), I vaguely remember a story where Scrooge has to win a race using an old old old car he'd first used when coming to Duckburg, and the car is falling apart but that's an advantage in the end as he can easily rebuild it to fit the needs of the obstacles in the race.

Does this mean anything to anyone?

Quite. It's a Barks story, Chugwagon Derby.

[Zantaf]

Jul 27, 2017 22:25:58 GMT The KKM said:

Tangentially related (and thanks for the link, Scrooge!), I vaguely remember a story where Scrooge has to win a race using an old old old car he'd first used when coming to Duckburg, and the car is falling apart but that's an advantage in the end as he can easily rebuild it to fit the needs of the obstacles in the race.

Does this mean anything to anyone?

Chugwagon Derby (W US 34-04)

[The KKM]

Jul 27, 2017 22:40:43 GMT Scrooge MacDuck said:

Jul 27, 2017 22:25:58 GMT The KKM said:

Tangentially related (and thanks for the link, Scrooge!), I vaguely remember a story where Scrooge has to win a race using an old old old car he'd first used when coming to Duckburg, and the car is falling apart but that's an advantage in the end as he can easily rebuild it to fit the needs of the obstacles in the race.

Does this mean anything to anyone?

Quite. It's a Barks story, Chugwagon Derby.

Jul 27, 2017 22:46:02 GMT Zantaf said:

Jul 27, 2017 22:25:58 GMT The KKM said:

Tangentially related (and thanks for the link, Scrooge!), I vaguely remember a story where Scrooge has to win a race using an old old old car he'd first used when coming to Duckburg, and the car is falling apart but that's an advantage in the end as he can easily rebuild it to fit the needs of the obstacles in the race.

Does this mean anything to anyone?

Chugwagon Derby (W US 34-04)

Thanks for that, it's a good memory jolter! However, what it jolted me to is that it isn't that story! I feel it's either an Italian or Brazilian one, and I think it's a sequel, because I think it referred to the car as something Scrooge'd used before to race. It had Rockerduck, I think, maybe, and I think I remember more specifically that Scrooge wins in the end by managing to put the car on a railroad after all the tires were gone and driving like that back to Duckburg.

[Matilda]

Daisy got a flying scooter in "Daringly Different"--her idea, Gyro's engineering-- and while it never appeared in another story, in my childhood headcanon she owned and used it from then on.

Did Barks ever depict Scrooge with a limo? I think in my childhood I may have seen him with a limo in stories drawn by others--I certainly have seen that in countless stories more recently. But it's always seemed to me out of character. A limo and a driver would COST MONEY, and Scrooge could certainly find cheaper ways to get around. If he can't always dragoon Donald into driving him around, I would think he would get the cheapest-to-operate semi-reliable vehicle available.

[The KKM]

This is the story I was remembering!

coa.inducks.org/story.php?c=D++4601

Matilda Barks does depict Scrooge with a limo often, yeah, particularly in one-shot page gags. I just explain it away mentally as it being a necessary expense- he knows he has to give some impression of wealth for business' sake.

[Zantaf]

Jul 27, 2017 23:30:27 GMT The KKM said:

This is the story I was remembering!

coa.inducks.org/story.php?c=D++4601

The Aberdeen flash! Of course! Haven't read it in years!

[drakeborough]

Jul 27, 2017 22:09:41 GMT Scrooge MacDuck said:

I recommend you check this page of Gilles Maurice's ever-instructive, if defunct, website. Most notably, Mickey has a regular car in Italy, apparently created by Scarpa, registered "113".

I don't know if that car was created by Scarpa or not (even Maurice used a wording to indicate that he's unsure of that), however one thing I know is that in older stories the car was registered "1313", and only sometimes later the number became "113". Also, some reprints of older stories "correct" the numer "1313" into "113":



The panel shown above is from the original 1961 version and the 1999 reprint of Scarpa's Topolino e la fiamma eterna di Kalhoa.

Mickey's 113 car was never as famous as Donald's 313 car, however last year there was a story about Mickey's relationship with his car.

[Matilda]

Check this out!

inducks.org/issue.php?c=no/DMOB++1

Looks like there are short articles on a whole bunch of characters' cars.

[whatevs]

Does DuckTales count? Because I quite like the designs of Scrooge's car and the Beagles' car.

I'm not very familiar with the Arizona Goof stories, but I've heard he's got a characteristic car too. Can anyone confirm?

[Zantaf]

Aug 5, 2017 5:50:59 GMT whatevs said:

I'm not very familiar with the Arizona Goof stories, but I've heard he's got a characteristic car too. Can anyone confirm?

Arizona Goof is the proud owner of an old jeep he won't change for anything in the world that he affectionately calls Gippippa.
  
It features prominently in many stories, usually showcasing the car's amazing off-road ability. The car even has its "own stories", like Indiana Pipps e il problema 4x4, Indiana Pipps e la fallimentopatia, Indiana Pipps e la nobile Gippippa, Indiana Pipps e il ritorno della Gippippa.