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Originally Posted by CityBoyDoug
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Thanks for the link. The history of the beautiful car is fascinating, especially Hughes Aircraft's alleged use of the car to tow gliders. The narrative could be a little less blurry though.
Perhaps a misprint, the text gives Brown's age as 29, when he received the car in October 1931. If Brown was born in 1891, he would have been 39 or 40 in October 1931. The catalog states the vehicle was restored "exactly" as it appeared when new. The accompanying pictures show the car with wide whitewall tires. The publicity shots from USC Digital are dated 1931, when the car was presumably still new. There may be a back story regarding McDonald Dootson Tires and/or D. Zanuck, and tires are easily changed, but the car in the photos is shod with Vogue
blackwall tires. It is also unclear that Hughes Aircraft's ownership and use of the vehicle means ("the enigmatic but exciting") Howard Hughes had much, if anything, to do with the versatile tow car.
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The original owner of 2456/J-444 was noted comedian and actor Joe E. Brown. Brown’s career had begun on Broadway in the 1920s, but by the end of the decade, he found himself working for Warner Brothers. His big break came in 1929 with the release of the first color talking movie, On With the Show. A series of other films followed, all major studio productions, including Song of the West in 1930. He was 29 years old and at the top of his career when he took delivery of this car, after it was delivered to him as a surprise gift at the Los Angelese (sic) Union Station on October 13, 1931.
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The restoration was completed in the mid-1970s by new owner Frank McGowan, returning the Joe E. Brown Tourster exactly as it appeared when new.
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[The car] will always be admired for its long history of enthusiast ownership and for its legendary owners, not least the smiling figure of Joe E. Brown and the enigmatic but exciting Howard Hughes.
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