We love cars that stay in overseas production for decades beyond what the designers intended; there's the Hindustan Ambassador (a 1956 Morris Oxford, built in India until 2014), the 1960 Ford Falcons built in Argentina through 1991, the Mexican-built Borgwards and many more. One of the all-time greatest -- maybe
the all time-greatest -- of these cars is the Iran Khodro Paykan, essentially a 1966 Hillman Hunter, built in Iran well into our current century. "Iran's Arrow: The Rise and Fall of Paykan," the fascinating documentary about the Paykan and its place as Iran's most beloved car, will be showing around the United States this week, and we say you should check it out.
The Paykan (which means Arrow, as in Hillman Arrow) was the only reasonably affordable family car for generations of Iranians, was (and is) Tehran's iconic taxi, served as an ambulance during the nightmarish Iran-Iraq War and became so close to the hearts of the Iranian people that a song from a 1970 Paykan TV advertisement became the song Iranians sing at birthday parties.
This film, created by automotive engineer Shahin Armin and filmmaker Sohrab Daryabandari, shows the history of the Paykan and includes interviews of Paykan owners, Paykan racers, Paykan repairmen and a cross section of Tehran intellectuals and artists probing the role of the Paykan in their country's culture.
This film instantly became one of my all-time favorite car documentaries, and I recommend you go watch it this week. As part of the Docunight series, "Iran's Arrow" will be showing at numerous venues between Oct. 5 and Oct. 9. Here's where to go (be sure to check with specific venues to make sure you get the correct details):
Oct. 3:Santa Monica, California:
Santa Monica Public Library, 7:00 PM.Oct. 4:State College, Pennsylvania:
Penn State University Park, 7:00 PM Albany, New York:
University at Albany, Husted Hall 214, 7:00 PMDurham, North Carolina:
Duke University, East Duke Building Rm 209, 7:00 PMIndianapolis, Indiana:
The Cyrus Place, 7:00 PMPittsburgh, Pennsylvania:
Doherty Hall 1212, Hamerschlag Dr., 7:00 PMCambridge, Massachusetts:
250 Jefferson Lab, 17 Oxford St., 7:00 PMToronto, Ontario:
Imagine Cinemas Carlton, 7:00 PMNew York, New York:
The New School University Center, Rm UL105, 7:30 PMMinneapolis, Minnesota:
Bell Museum of Natural History, 6:30 PMMontreal, Quebec:
Concordia University, EV Building, 8:30 PMChicago, Illinois:
1307 Screening Room, School of the Art Institute of ChicagoSan Diego, California:
6790 Top Gun St. Suite 7, 7:00 PMSan Francisco, California:
Roxie Theater, 7:00 PMIrvine, California:
UC Irvine, McCormick Screening Room, 7:00 PMSeattle, Washington:
University of Washington, PACCAR Hall, 7:30 PM Oct. 5Plano, Texas:
Angelika Film Center, 8:00 PMOct. 9Charlotte, North Carolina:
UNC Student Union Movie Theater, 7:00 PM
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