Arguably this belongs in "What are you watching", or even some automotive forum and thread. But it's tangentially related to cycling and at least one cyclist here, as will be seen.
I happened to catch an episode of I Love Lucy where Ricky arranges to go to California for a screen test.
Lucy rejects various methods of getting there; bus, train, plane.
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At one point Lucy points out that California has a real car culture. She claims that if you arrive at the state border without a car, you'll be turned back.
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They sort of decide to buy a cheap used car and drive to California, and Fred Mertz says he can get a great deal. He comes back with what they claim is a 1923 Cadillac, although I think it might have been a couple of years later. The cast (copyright date 1954) shows absolutely no reverence or respect for the 1923 Cadillac; it is just a junky old car. Actually it seemed like the studio in real life used two cars; one which was basically solid and runnable, and another which was more of static mock-up with doors and headlights and such which easily fell off.
If I recall correctly, Fred bought the Cadillac for $300 and they sold it back to the dealer for $500. In those semi-criminal Lucy scams she phoned the dealer anonymously claiming to be a studio willing to rent the car for even more, if it was available. That was definitely the order-of-magnitude of the prices involved, anyway.
I later caught also the episode where they really set off for California, also in a Cadillac convertible, but from the early 1950's. I never realized that the Riccardo's and Mertz's lived on Sesame Street. But the street scene of the front of their building was very similar.