As we mentioned on this very blog, Larry Hagman and Barbara Eden of our beloved "Dallas" appeared at the Fan Expo Canada last weekend, doing a little meeting and greeting with fans. And as these fan cons go, the two had lots of time to reminisce with longtime viewers about not just their "Dallas" days but also that other little show they just happened to do together years earlier, "I Dream of Jeannie." BRB's friends Mike and Krista of Metro Detroit traveled to the event and got a chance to chat with them about something that we're guessing has never come up before at these events ... the story of the blue Pontiac GTO car used for "Jeannie" -- and where it might have ended up.
You see, once upon a time, well, just a couple years ago, a guy named Mel, also from Metro Detroit and a friend of Mike's, purchased his dream car at the famous Barrett-Jackson Car Auction. It was a Monkeemobile, one of the two screen used cars built by designer Dean Jeffries for the '60s TV show, and since that purchase, it's made a lot of rounds at car shows and cons (see our May 19, 2008 post as well as the photo below). But before it went through its creative conversion process to be used on "The Monkees," what was it? Mike thinks he knows.
"They had two of them for Larry," Mike says of the blue "Jeannie" GTO below. "Detective work has led us to believe this was the Monkeemobile -- before becoming the car we now know. Is this 100 percent for sure? No. No car DNA available yet. BUT, with the pre-build pics and the build sheet decoded and those in the know (namely the builder himself) we are 98 percent sure. The two 'Jeannie' GTOs were turned into the two Monkeemobiles. Before Mel's car was restored four years back, they removed the old interior and the blue paint was found."
So at the event in Toronto last weekend, Mike and Krista told Hagman the story, and he was very intrigued, indeed. He was kind enough to sign the visor from Mel's Monkeemobile. And Eden signed it, as well. In the top photo, you can see Mike showing a cell-phone photo of the Monkeemobile to Hagman. So fun.
Toronto photos courtesy of Mike; please do not copy without permission
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