The show was created by
Allan Burns and
Chris Hayward, who had better success with
Rocky & Bullwinkle,
The Munsters, and
Get Smart (which debuted the same season).
Aluminum Model Toys (AMT), a well-known producer of plastic model car kits, introduced a -scale kit of the Porter in late 1965. The theme music was composed and conducted by
Ralph Carmichael, with lyrics written and sung by
Paul Hampton. It was later used on an episode of
Arrested Development also called "My Mother, the Car". The show began with a black-and-white pilot, which was later refilmed in color. The pilot did not originally air, but has been shown several times on Canadian television. Network censors insisted that one particular scene be deleted where the car backfired.
Car The on-set car, called a "1928 Porter
Stanhope" touring car, was a custom car, rebuilt by
Norm Grabowski, from a 1924
Ford Model T, and later restyled by
property master Kaye Trapp and
Norm Breedlove. The actual
Porter Motor Company existed briefly from 1900-1901 and made an automobile only in the
runabout style, not the stanhope or
touring car style. The on-set car used in
My Mother the Car was, in 2016, located in
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and owned by Dave Bodnar. The stunt car was once owned by casino giant
William Harrah, who had one of the largest special-interest and antique auto collections of all time in Reno, Nevada. After Harrah's death in 1984, the auction catalogue advertised the car as having a carnation red body with white top and created from parts of a
Ford Model T, a
Maxwell, a
Hudson and a
Chevrolet. Harrah's F.R.P. is, since 1994, at the Seal Cove Auto Museum on Mount Desert Island in Maine. As of 2012, the stunt Porter was at the Star Cars Museum in
Gatlinburg, Tennessee. On September 3, 2017, the car sold at the Dragone auction, part of the Historic Festival 35 at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, CT, for $50,000. ==Soundtrack==