How many of you were influenced by Magnum PI when you bought your 308/ 328?

Yep! Heck, Enzo pretty much felt that Ferrari lowered themselves by producing street cars at all. He had no interest in it and it showed. Luckily, his marketing people were better at keeping the company afloat than he was.

Frankly, I have never understood why anybody would be embarrassed or insulted by the Magnum association. Certainly it would be expected that outside the USA, the reference would be little known, at least at the time. So I wouldn't think that anyone in Europe would have been "influenced" by the show. OTOH, in the US, almost no one would have ever been exposed to a 3x8 without that show.

 

Well Mike, as said in a post above, it was aired on the french TV for the first time in December 1981 and was very popular, so almost anybody here already knew the "Magnum car" only a year or so later.

Rgds.

 

Hmmm...Thomas Magnum speaking French. I'll have to get my head around that!

 

At the time, it was customary to translate any movie, tv show, etc...from anywhere in the world in French; so yes, Thomas Magnum, Jonathan Quayle Higgins, T.C, Rick spoke French. Heck, even John Wayne did, if you can imagine that?
Only the movies aired late at night in some special emissions for movies fans were left in their original langage, only subtitled in French. A movie in its original langage was a very, very rare occurrence.

Rgds

 

"Heck, even John Wayne did, if you can imagine that? "

Oh no! Say it ain't so!

 

On a similar note, the Back To The Future thing and DeLoreans bug the hell out of me. I was in middle school and had just discovered my interest in cars exactly when they debuted so they have a special place on my list of cars to own for purely sentimental reasons.

Problem is I don't think I could stand the 24/7 flux capacitor jokes so I have had to pass on ownership.

I don't get Magnum comments in mine. In 20 years I can count on one hand the number of people that comment to me the association and that could be simply because mine is black, not red. I realize Back to the Future was a long time ago as well but for someone to remember watching Magnum PI, they would have to be at least close to 40 now. No teenager is going to see it and ask me where Higgin's is. That ship has sailed a loooong time ago for that current age group.

 

Magnum said he spoke both French and Vietnamese on one episode.

Back in the late 80's I worked in a lab with a guy from Porto Rico. He brought me a tape of Magnum dubbed in Spanish once. I still have it. Weird to watch that thing.

 

Well, as for "Back to the Future", the fans had a special event last year I believe (sorry, out of my mind right now, can't remember the exact date) in Paris at precisely the date that appears on the time computer for 2015 in the movie.

So, I was having a coffee with a friend one morning at about 8:45 in the morning in Paris, exactly on "place de la Bastille", looking at the red light outside the café, when one De Lorean, driven by Doc, stopped at said red light. At the exact moment, I was kind of flabbergasted...two or three minutes later came another one; and then another one, later on. Then I did understand which day it was...

Rgds

 

Yep, he said that; but then, the way he pronounces the name of "Michelle" makes any Frenchman understand that he does not. Like any langage, French is full of small traps that helps to distinguish between those who can really speak it and those who can't (like pronouncing the "u", for instance).
Works in reverse, of course: have you ever heard any Frenchman pronounce "Rock'n Roll" with a true English accent?

Rgds

 

I agree with you, but Michelle is a common name in anglo saxon countries and so doesn't need to be pronounced the French way. I'd be quite alarmed to hear a French person pronounce Paul the anglo saxon way.

Yeah, the French acid test is definitely "u" eg as in Rue. When I finally got that more or less right, the French world opened up for me

 

Sorry Paul, I thought to have had heard somewhere in one of the episodes that Michelle was actually of half french origin, so I supposed he would called her "the french way". You do remember that Vietnam was once "French", do you?
(I write it "French" because it was occupied by us, but I actually don't think it ever was in spirit)

(and yes, in French, the "u" is tricky...but once mastered, that helps)

Rgds

 

How is Michelle pronounced in French?

 

It sounds more "dry" than in English...which explains my former allusion to the "u", which is "dry" in French and very difficult for an English speaker.

Rgds

 

Oh monsieur, there is plenty of French influence left in Viet Nam. (the language is single-syllable, so the proper name is 2 words, not Vietnam)

The Vietnamese written language, starting with the alphabet
Café as a place to hang out
Baguette, otherwise known as banh mi
Old colonial buildings (and I wished they left those as is)
Old geezers in government speaking French... and the funniest scene I saw was an old Communist general speaking French to a American journalist because he could not speak English. What a pretentious preek.

Everytime a Vietnamese writes something using the alphabet introduced by the French, it is the ultimate French influence. It is beyond "in spirit."

 

mee shen (finishing it off with a tongue forming an L at the end)

 

My Dad was there with the French Navy in 1954, but not exactly for tourism. He came back with fond memories of the country; like many Frenchmen who went there. I then spent part of my life thinking that somehow, someday, I should find the time to plan a visit there with him before it was "too late". Unfortunately fate took him before it was time for that.
Still a place I want to visit someday, but as a friend say, "it's difficult to find time to go everywhere".

Rgds

 

Interesting discussion.
Bruno; is it always correct to pronounce the french "u" like a german "ü"?
What do you mean with "dry"? All words, where you don't interloop your tongue?
BTW, do you master the german "h"?

Best Regards
Martin

 

"more or less" yes: you can't go very wrong with "ü"; this is what is very difficult for English speakers, who tend to use a variant of "yu".
And yes; my pronounciation is still good in German, my understanding "correct" (actually I don't even realise that the langage spoken is German, when listening to the German radio for instance: after a few minutes, the understanding is automatic), my vocabulary rather fine.
But unfortunately my grammar is slowly escaping me; this is due to living in Paris most of the time, where you have very, very few opportunities to practice your german.
I have also some gender confusion for some words with some other langages (the few words of Russian that I know, for instance).

What I mean with "dry" is well illustrated by the "r", which is "dry" in French. Conversly, the reverse is that, as said above, I don't know of any Frenchman yet able to pronounce "Rock'n Roll" like the English speaking people. The "r" is either to "dry", or much too "greasy" (over accentuated) but it never sounds right. I now I am completly incapable of pronoucing it correctly.
Rgds

 

Might have to make that happen. Thanks for the tip!

 

Ask Johnny Hallyday! (LOL )

 

He is Belgian...

Rgds

 

I feared that!

 

I must say that even if I have nothing against him, I am not a fan either; not a fan of his music, no. The guy himself seems at least honest, even if sometimes "slightly naive" (he has been robbed of his money numerous times by managers, advisors, records companies and who knows who else...)

Rgds

 

Reading a book by Paolo Tumminelli: Car Design Europe, myths, brands, people.
Quote on side 181 "the Dino´s successor, Magnum P.I. 308, becomes the brand´s ultimate icon" end quote.
But no, PI did not affect me when buying my -85 GTS, the design speaks for itself.
///Tommi S.