MYSTARCOLLECTORCAR PRESENTS FIVE CAR STARS IN ‘THE GUMBALL RALLY’

By
Jerry Admin
-
0
5

The 1970s showcased car guy movies that involved a cross-country race across America in the shortest possible time frame.

The flicks were largely based upon a real trans-American car race created by writer/racer Brock Yates and his ‘Car and Driver’ colleague Steve Smith.

Jim Sutherland

The event became known as the ‘Cannon Ball Baker Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Run’ and was dedicated to Erwin George “Cannon Ball” Baker, a famous motorcycle and automobile racer who took a motorcycle across the US in 1911, followed by numerous cross-country trips in pre-war cars.

Cannon Ball Baker was clearly an adventurer and set an incredibly high bar for others who chose the same cross-country path. In 1971, Yates and Smith decided to honor Cannon Ball with a long road trip across America in a Dodge van named Moon Trash II. Yates and Smith hit the road with Yates’ teenaged son and one other passenger.

Their ’71 Dodge van was the only vehicle in the event and completed the 2800-mile journey in just under 41 hours, while setting a record for the long trip.   

Subsequent Cannon Ball races included many other competitors and higher speeds in a variety of vehicles. The net result was a host of fictional movies based on the actual road race, including ‘The Gum Ball Rally’ in 1976.

‘The Gum Ball Rally’ featured an unusual array of vehicles starring in the movie so we at MyStarCollectorCar decided to showcase some of them because 2026 marks the 50th anniversary of the car guy flick.

The most notable car in the movie was a genuine 1967 Ford Cobra roadster with a 427 “Side Oiler” big block engine. This is a Holy Grail car for Ford fans that would cost huge bucks, your soul, loyal dog, and first-born kid to purchase at any high-end 2026 auction.

The second car star in ‘The Gum Ball Rally’ was a 1974 Ferrari Daytona supercar that was a match for the mighty Cobra in the long road race and could hold its own at high speeds.

A ’74 Ferrari Daytona was ahead of its time in terms of style and aero dynamics and now commands big dough in the car collector hobby. Not nearly as big a bundle of cash as a 1967 big block Cobra, but still a large investment. But you get to keep your kid and the dog.

The third addition to our ‘Gum Ball Rally’ list is a 1974 Porsche 911 that was also a road rocket, but not with the same afterburners as the two earlier movie cars.

Nevertheless, a 1974 Porsche 911 was a beast compared to the neutered array of domestic cars introduced that year and was a worthy addition to the lineup.

The fourth esteemed member of our movie car list is a 1971 Dodge Polara retired police car.

These large-and-in-charge beasts were equipped with 440 Police Interceptor big block engines and could reach crazy speeds in a highway pursuit situation. The ’71 Polara was essentially a stunt car in the movie, but it finished the race while accumulating a generous amount of damage along the way.

The fifth and final major movie car star in ‘The Gum Ball Rally’ is a 1970 ½ Camaro Z-28 that offered a solid blend of style and performance during the dying days of the muscle car era 56 years ago.

The shadow of the first-gen Camaro built between 1967 and 1969 kept the ’70 ½ Camaro on the pony car popularity backburner during the early Seventies, so it became an expendable star in ‘The Gum Ball Rally’. The Camaro may have been a cheap throwaway prop in the movie, but its 2026 value made it a current star in the car hobby.

Movies like ‘The Gum Ball Rally’ were made strictly for entertainment purposes in 1976 and had paper-thin plots, but fortunately they had a generous array of cool car stars to carry the day. 

Jim Sutherland

BY: Jim Sutherland

Jim Sutherland is a veteran automotive writer whose work has been published by many major print and online publications. The list includes Calgary Herald, The Truth About Cars, Red Deer Advocate, RPM Magazine, Edmonton Journal, Montreal Gazette, Windsor Star, Vancouver Province, and Post Media Wheels Section. 

SPONSORS

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR