Episode 2 (S2) – Richie’s Car

/ Glen Available

Richie finds it difficult saying goodnight to his date Gloria while his father waits in the car to drive him home. Richie pitches the advantages of owning a 2nd family car to Howard. Howard agrees and throws in $200 towards the purchase. He reminds Richie however it won’t be his but the family’s car.

Fonzie offers to sell Richie a car named LOVE BANDIT he won in a drag race. Richie says he doesn’t think it is what his father had in mind for a 2nd car, adding his Dad’s idea of cool is leaving the top button on his sports shirt open.

Fonzie shows Richie’s father the car but Howard is unimpressed. “This is not a car a grown man drives. It’s more like something a little kid peddles.” However after agreeing to paint the car a nice shade of ‘family blue’ and removing the hot-rod shiny extras, the sale goes ahead.

Richie soon learns the car is stolen. Fonzie paints over the number plate and the plan is for Richie to drive the car directly home from Fonzie’s garage, and leave it there until Fonzie can get in contact with the person he got the car from.

On the way home however he bumps into Gloria, who asks him for a lift. Richie drives them both straight to his garage, where he parks the car and then offers to walk Gloria home the rest of the way. Gloria thinks Richie is acting very strangely.

The next morning Richie wakes to the sound of the 2nd family car being driven out the driveway by Howard and the rest of the family, all packed for a vacation. Richie runs out to stop them, and eventually the truth about the car being stolen comes out.

Fonzie then brings Rocky Baruffy, the person he won the original LOVE BANDIT from in a drag race, with him down to the police station. Together they explain the idea of the car being stolen is actually just a large misunderstanding.

The actor who played the detective down at the local police station was Karl Swenson (1908 – 1978). Among a great many film and television roles, he appeared in these four movies –

4 thoughts on “Episode 2 (S2) – Richie’s Car”

  1. Rocky Baruffy did not steal that car. Heeeeey. lol The difference between older times, when we probably were JUST as rude and trashy inside as today… but just didn’t show it as much/let it surface: The Fonz’s “Love Bandit” compared to rapist and debauched Buck’s “P-Wagon” from Kill Bill. Written in code since this is a PG, possibly G, blog site, lol Also, was Karl Swenson a farmer in The Birds? I have a vague memory…
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    • Ha ha! What a brilliant ‘across the mists of time’ comparison between the Love Bandit car and the Pussy Wagon from KILL BILL (2003). Yep, we’ve come a long way. As for Karl Swenson’s brief scene in THE BIRDS, it took place in the diner that was in the center of the town. He played a bible-quoting doomsayer who tried to convince everyone the birds massing was a sign of the coming end of the World. This is his exact dialogue from the film: Doomsayer in diner : It’s the end of the world! Helen Carter : Two Bloody Marys, Deke. What actually happened at the school? Deke Carter – Diner Owner : A bunch of crows attacked the school kids. Doomsayer in diner : It’s the end of the world. “Thus said the Lord God to the mountains, and the hills, and the rivers and the valleys; Behold, I, even I, shall bring a sword upon you, and I will devastate your high places. Ezekiel, Chapter 6. Helen Carter : “Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink.” Doomsayer in diner : Isaiah, Chapter 5. It’s the end of world. Traveling Salesman at Diner’s Bar : There isn’t a bird anywhere in sight. Doomsayer in diner : “Look at the birds of the air: they do not sow or reap, yet your Heavenly Father feeds them.”
      Reply
  2. Is the like thing working for me? I think it’s working, Glen! Hey, as for the guy from The Birds–oh, man! He’s THAT guy? That’s hilarious, ’cause we ALWAYS go around quoting that guy, like when anything bad happens in the news, we adopt a light, carefree voice and say, “It’s the end of the world.” We love that character; one of our favorite ones from the movie, hahaha
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    • Oh my! Good things come to those that wait! The LIKE is now working? I think they call that ‘progress’. I’m raising a glass (of ‘V’ energy drink) to mark the occasion. And Doomsayer guy? I figure those pessimist-on-steroids types don’t have the same pull and size audience as they maybe used to since there’s been just so many false alarms on that front (‘the boy who cried wolf’) and somehow mankind always seems to pull through and carry on.
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