The finger

I heard a very funny story about the making of this seventies Valiant Charger ad today.

It's a poor quality video, but if you squint you can see people throughout the ad giving the V sign as they exclaim 'Hey Charger!'

Most of the footage was in the can, with only the closing shot of the driver giving the V left to do.

Cameras were rolling as the Charger cruised by. Then a hand emerged from the driver's window and gave the finger.

Not the V, the finger.

Seems no-one on set had noticed the actor playing the Charger driver had a finger missing on his right hand. So he couldn't actually give the V sign.

Stylist and make-up artist headed off to the nearest magic shop and bought a rubber 'severed' finger.

They used make-up to cover up the blood and loosely attached it to the driver's hand.

Apparently the fake finger stuck out like a sore thumb, but luckily TV was in black & white, so the finger blended in nicely.

And nobody ever knew.