The Blade Runner 2049/Columbo connection
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I have to admit, I have not seen “Blade Runner 2049”.
The original film is still one of my favorite. And I couldn’t get myself to see a sequel to it.
I have heard since, that it is actually quite good. (And of course, now it’s too late to see it in a good theater.)
But the one thing I noticed on pictures of the new Spinner “flying car” (Which doesn’t look 10% as good as the original film’s Syd Mead design) was that big “Peugeot” logo.
Yes, Peugeot!
Even bigger on this model.
I can’t find any mention of this on any official Peugeot site.
Peugeot does not sell cars in the US currently. So I am not sure why they would spend money on what is basically an add, in a big budget American film.
(Unless they have some sort of a deal for Europe/Asian markets???)
This is very strange as the logo is not hidden at all. A flying Peugeot….
What it actually reminded me of is the Columbo TV show (Another one of my favorite)
As lieutenant Frank Columbo drove a Peugeot too! A very rare 403 Cabriolet.
So we have 2 very different American cops/detectives, both working in L.A. Both driving Peugeot cars.
Decades apart…
Here is a picture I took on a parking lot at Universal Studio of one of the cars used for the series.
This was back in 2009. I have no idea if the car is still there, or what shape it would be in by now.
This is pretty sad…
And here is a 403 Cabriolet in perfect shape.
It was actually a very nice looking car. Designed by Pininfarina.
Peugeot is planning a come-back in the US, but in a very smooth way…you may see the Lion again in a decade or so…and maybe, it will be popular in 2049!!!
The new 'Blade Runner' is a great movie. Builds nicely on the themes of the original. Shame that it sort of failed at the box office. (But then, so did the first one when it first came out).
The bottom one cannot get any cooler.
It’s the future and after forty years or so on the road, here in Great Britain, the UK and England (I like to get about, me: what other soggy chunk o’rock boasts so many names?) I’m driving my second Peugeot; I saw Blade Runner in 1982, in an Art Nouveau palace here (Itself built in 1911) and I was instantly taken with the entire film, the gorgeous decay, the polyglot citizens, the psychotic mur… never mind that bit; it was WONDERFUL. The spinners especially for me. We’ll never get flying cars domestically – who’d trust the average driver with a road car, let alone one capable of stuffing an office block at 130? Anyway, my car lights up like Blade Runner inside, it’s economical, yet hit the paddles and it keeps pace with a Mustang near me that has flame spitting from the pipes. Right up to 125 mph. Apparently. Finally, what those Studio types did to Frank Columbo’s car? Unforgivable. It should have been preserved for posterity.