Behold The Amazing Malaise-Era Cars on the Set of Joaquin Phoenix's Joker Movie

Because we exist in an era when, by the year 2023, 100 percent of all new movies made will be comic book sequels, remakes and reboots, we are getting a possibly R-rated Batman spin-off starring The Joker that’s set in the 1980s, apparently doesn’t have Batman in it, is modeled after a Scorsese mob flick and is titled, appropriately, Joker. I don’t know if this appeals to you or not, but the cars look great.

The upcoming movie Joaquin Phoenix as the Clown Prince of Crime has been filming in New York City and New Jersey lately, and two readers sent in photos of the cars on set. Prepare your minds for some Malaise Era goodness.

As longtime Jalopnik readers are well aware, the Malaise Era was a period between roughly 1973 and 1983 when American car design and performance arguably took a major step backwards thanks to gas crises, emissions laws and just tastes that haven’t aged too well. But now that some time has passed, some cars from this period are “in” again, which is why the set of Joker is so awesome.

We begin with images of what appear to be a pair of mid ’70s Plymouth Fury Gotham PD, which a reader named Corey spotted in downtown Brooklyn on their way to the Manhattan bridge:

These are generally called C-Body Mopars, referring to the full-sized 1970s Plymouths, Dodges, Chryslers and so on. I believe these are late 1970s Plymouth Furies, not Dodge Monacos, but I could be slightly off on the taillights. Image by Corey from Brooklyn.

The rest of the pics are from a reader named Yishay, who captured the shots in Newark, New Jersey.

Since I’m admittedly not particularly skilled at identifying malaise-era American cars, I decided to break out my Malaise Car Identifier 3000, known by most as simply a “Raphael Orlove.” He wrote excellent captions describing the various GM, Ford, and Chrysler land yachts found in Yishay’s photos. Enjoy:

This is a strong contender for the Best Mopar Face of All Time, with a couple contenders from this era fighting for the top spot. This is a Fuselage Mopar, referring to the C-Bodies from 1969-1973. This is a Plymouth Fury. An A-Body sits way behind.

Wow! The GMC version of the K-5 Blazer, a GMW Jimmy. This is a 1969-1972.

These were one of the more coke-bottle-ey full size Chevys. This one is of the body style right after the famous 1964 Impala. It’s easy to date this to an individual year with one trick. Yep, by taillight! The curvy body pegs it to the 1965-1968 body style, and the round lights in the bumper itself puts it at a 1968 alone. The higher trim versions got six taillights, lower ones, like the Biscayne, got four.

This is a GM “New Look” bus, more specifically a 1973 GM T6H-5308A.

FIND MANY MORE PHOTOS AT: JALOPNIK

SOURCE: JALOPNIK