1966 Shelby Cobra vs 1974 Ferrari Daytona

Movie: Gumball Rally ’76

The Gumball Rally is a 1976 film about a coast-to-coast road race. The Cobras used in the filming (main car and a backup) were serial numbers CSX3255 and CSX3243.

The movie was inspired by the actual Cannonball Baker Sea-To-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash run held by Brock Yates that inspired several other movies, like Cannonball with David Carradine, also from 1976.

Two Ferrari Daytonas were used (main car and a backup) The serial numbers were 14829 and 16467. Chassis 14829 is currently at the Peterson Automotive Museum and was once owned by ‘Mel Blanc.’Chassis 16467 also appeared in ‘A Star in Born’ (1976)”

Some of the other featured cars:
– 1974 Porsche 911 Targa (Porche Team)
– 1971 Dodge Polara 440 police car (Dodge Team)
– 1970 1/2 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 (Camaro Team)

Linda Vaughn (“Emergency Plan Alpha”) was a popular race queen of the period; among other things, she did a season of personal appearances for Hurst Corporation as “Miss Golden Shifter”.

The main difference is while Cannonball is an action film, The Gumball Rally is a comedy, just like the later series of Cannonball movies starring Burt Reynolds and many others. The Gumball Rally is often considered better compared to the later, star-studded Cannonball Run movies, which even copied the running gags of the police man chasing the racers through the whole USA. Though Gumball Rally’s entire premise is copied from the actual cross country race the Cannonball Baker Sea-To-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash which was created and organized by Brock Yates who wrote the script for The Cannonball Run film.

The Gumball Rally stars Raul Julia, Michael Sarrazin, Norman Burton, Gary Busey, John Durran, Tim McIntire, and Susan Flannery, and was directed and co-written by Chuck Bail.