HOW MUCH DO YOU KNOW ABOUT BROOKLIN AND "WONDERFUL LIFE"

It's a Wonderful Life is a 1946 American Christmas film produced and directed by Frank Capra, based on the short story The Greatest Gift of Philip Van Doren Stern. It is one of the most beloved in American cinema, and has become traditional viewing during the Christmas season. The film stars James Stewart as George Bailey, a man who has given up his dreams to help others when taxicab driver Ernie drives him around Bedford Falls, his hometown. On Christmas Eve George was thinking of a suicide because everything was going wrong in his life, but God sent him a guardian angel who showed him how the lives of the people he loves could have been much worse without him, since he had always helped them. So he is convinced to return home and he finds a beautiful Christmas present: all the friends he helped in his life brought some money to save him from bankruptcy.

The idea of painting taxicab in high visibility yellow belongs to John Hertz, a salesman who joined the Walden Shaw Livery Company of Chicago in 1905. They bought used cars and modified them for use as a taxicab, painting them in yellow so they could be easily noticed in the traffic of the big cities. Starting as a salesman and becoming a partner in 1908, John Hertz convinced his associates that building a strong chassis with a body made on purpose for this job could be a good business. In 1910 Hertz founded the Yellow Cab Company in Chicago, which soon grew to gain a nationwide presence, so he knew that modified passenger cars did not have the ruggedness to withstand harsh use as taxicabs. Hence in 1915 the Yellow Taxicab Manufacturing Company was born, to manufacture purpose-built taxicabs.

Brooklin Model BML19

The standard 1930 GMC Model 6 Taxi Cab was released in December 2016. It is finished in yellow/black with tan interior, yellow license plate, blackwall tyres and the logo of Yellow Taxi Cab. A second model was made in white/black with white wheels and the logo of Ernie’s Cab Service. A silver plate on the base says it is a limited edition model. The yellow General Motors Cab it’s a Hollywood movie star that featured in the film “It’s a Wonderful Life” and is now part of the NB Center For American Automotive Heritage collection.

You can find many other Brooklin stories on the fourth edition of the Brooklin Models Collectors Guide. Click here