My Cousin Vinny (1992)

Muriel Moore: Juror #1

Photos 

Quotes 

• Mona Lisa Vito : The car that made these two, equal-length tire marks had positraction. You can't make those marks without positraction, which was not available on the '64 Buick Skylark!

  Vinny Gambini : And why not? What is positraction?

  Mona Lisa Vito : It's a limited slip differential which distributes power equally to both the right and left tires. The '64 Skylark had a regular differential, which, anyone who's been stuck in the mud in Alabama knows, you step on the gas, one tire spins, the other tire does nothing.

  Juror #1 : That's right.

  Vinny Gambini : Is that it?

  Mona Lisa Vito : No, there's more! You see? When the left tire mark goes up on the curb and the right tire mark stays flat and even? Well, the '64 Skylark had a solid rear axle, so when the left tire would go up on the curb, the right tire would tilt out and ride along its edge. But that didn't happen here. The tire mark stayed flat and even. This car had an independent rear suspension. Now, in the '60s, there were only two other cars made in America that had positraction, and independent rear suspension, and enough power to make these marks. One was the Corvette, which could never be confused with the Buick Skylark. The other had the same body length, height, width, weight, wheel base, and wheel track as the '64 Skylark, and that was the 1963 Pontiac Tempest.

  Vinny Gambini : And because both cars were made by GM, were both cars available in metallic mint green paint?

  Mona Lisa Vito : They were!

  Vinny Gambini : Thank you, Ms. Vito. No more questions. Thank you very, very much.

  [kissing her hands] 

  Vinny Gambini : You've been a lovely, lovely witness.