Alright, so the other day, I found myself going down a bit of a rabbit hole, and the name that kept popping up was James Glickenhaus. It started pretty randomly, actually. I was just flicking through some old car stuff online, you know, like you do, and saw some seriously cool-looking machines. That led me to Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus, or SCG.
Digging into the Car Stuff First
So, my first step was to figure out what this SCG thing was all about. I started looking into their cars. Man, some wild designs! I saw they were building these hypercars, and even taking them to race at places like Le Mans. That really caught my attention. I mean, going up against the big boys, that takes guts, right? I spent a good while just looking at pictures and reading snippets about the SCG 003, the 004, and that Boot thing they made. Pretty impressive for a smaller outfit, I thought. I wasn’t trying to become an expert, just getting a feel for what they were doing. It felt like a real passion project, not just a business.
Then Came the Movie Connection
Then, things got a bit weird. I was digging around, trying to find out more about the “Glickenhaus” behind SCG, and suddenly I’m seeing stuff about movies. I was like, “Wait a minute, is this the same guy?” Turns out, it was! James Glickenhaus, the car guy, was also James Glickenhaus, the film director and producer from back in the day. My brain did a little flip. I thought, okay, I gotta check this out.
So, my next move was to look up his films. I saw titles like “The Exterminator,” “Shakedown,” “McBain.” These sounded like gritty, action-packed movies from the 80s and 90s. I decided to try and watch one. I managed to find “The Exterminator.” Whoa. It was… something else. Definitely a product of its time, very raw, very direct. It wasn’t exactly high art, you know, but it had a certain energy. I then watched a bit of “Shakedown.” Same kind of vibe, real New York City feel, lots of action.
Trying to Piece it Together
After that, I spent some time just thinking about it. Here’s this guy who made these hard-hitting, sometimes controversial movies, and now he’s building these super high-performance race cars. It seemed like two totally different worlds. But the more I thought about it, the more I saw a kind of thread.
- Independent Spirit: Both in his filmmaking and his car manufacturing, it felt like he was doing things his own way. Not necessarily following the mainstream, but carving his own path.
- Passion Driven: You don’t make movies like “The Exterminator” or build boutique hypercars unless you’re really into it. It didn’t feel like it was just about the money.
- A Certain Intensity: There’s an intensity to his films, and there’s definitely an intensity to competing at Le Mans.
So, my little “practice” of digging into James Glickenhaus started with some cool cars and took a detour through 80s action cinema. I didn’t set out to write a biography or anything, just followed my curiosity. It was interesting to see how someone could have these two pretty distinct, high-level pursuits. It’s not every day you see that kind of crossover.
My main takeaway? It was a good reminder that people can be multifaceted. You can’t always box them into one thing. I just found it fascinating to explore these two sides of his work. Started with an image of a car, ended up with a much broader picture. A pretty cool way to spend an afternoon, I’d say.
