It started with a discussion of what the nickel plated auto in the movie Titanic ought to have been. Could it have been a nickel 1911, or a 1905, or even a 1903 or 1900 model? I haven't dug up the movie to study frames yet, but I thought it looked like a 1911.
Anyway, my friend says he can find no reference on any factory nickel 1911 before the 1920s at the ealiest, and maybe not before the '30s. He does have a 1940 catalogue which lists 1911s in nickel.
So please, you experts of the Internet, help us out if you can. When were the earliest factory nickel 1911(a1?) available to the civilian market?
Could one have been owned by the rich guy on the Titanic? Or will we have to accept the fact that he had his new 1911 nickeled aftermarket, before that fateful sea voyage in early 1912?
Or maybe just the director just wanted a flashy gun and the prop guy came up with the nickeled Colt? Seems kind of lame, considering all the effort they went through to make all the sets authentic looking, but stranger things are common on movie sets, I hear.
Anyway, my friend says he can find no reference on any factory nickel 1911 before the 1920s at the ealiest, and maybe not before the '30s. He does have a 1940 catalogue which lists 1911s in nickel.
So please, you experts of the Internet, help us out if you can. When were the earliest factory nickel 1911(a1?) available to the civilian market?
Could one have been owned by the rich guy on the Titanic? Or will we have to accept the fact that he had his new 1911 nickeled aftermarket, before that fateful sea voyage in early 1912?
Or maybe just the director just wanted a flashy gun and the prop guy came up with the nickeled Colt? Seems kind of lame, considering all the effort they went through to make all the sets authentic looking, but stranger things are common on movie sets, I hear.