When the folks at Team Bondi started working on their hit 2011 video game L.A. Noire, they had one very ambitious goal in mind: to bring 1940s Los Angeles to life as accurately as possible. As you can probably imagine, accomplishing such a feat required quite a bit of research. For starters, production designer Simon Wood and his team reviewed hundreds of thousands of photographs from the period held in the UCLA and USC archives. This allowed them to recreate long-gone L.A. landmarks like the Brown Derby restaurant and the RKO Hillstreet Theatre.
They also used authentic period clothing, sourced from local prop and wardrobe houses, including items worn in films like 1933’s King Kong. Hand-drawn maps from the ‘40s similarly came in handy when creating L.A. Noire’s gigantic in-game map. Additionally, the team used aerial photography from back then that they found at L.A.’s Huntington Library. Prior to the game’s release, Wood said that he felt the streets of 1940s Los Angeles had been replicated as best as they possibly could be.
But then came the issue of studying the various motor vehicles of the era. To assist with that task, the team turned to a somewhat less academic source: Tonight Show host and prolific car collector Jay Leno. “We photographed Jay Leno’s private car collection,” Wood told Game Informer in 2010. “You can drive around in Jay Leno’s private fire truck! He’s got a garage like in Iron Man or Wayne Manor. He was there, and when he opened it up, the boys were gobsmacked. It’s endless.”
As of 2024, Leno’s extensive personal collection is said to include more than 180 cars and 160 motorcycles. One of those cars is the 1934 Duesenberg Walker Coupe—the most expensive model ever made. The comedian talked about it at length in an episode of Jay Leno’s Garage, which you can check out right here:
The Walker Coupe was among the vehicles from Leno’s collection that found their way into L.A. Noire, and it ended up being the fastest car in the game. Take a look at some footage of it in action below.
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