The 1963 Dodge pickup, as shown in Trailer 2 for Man of Steel.

Brian Grams, director of the Volo Auto Museum in Volo IL, had to search all the way to Kansas to find the beat-up 1963 Dodge D200 pickup truck that will be featured in this summer’s Superman movie Man of Steel. The Daily Herald of suburban Chicago had a nice story about how Grams found the right vehicle for the movie, and then a bunch of close matches for the filmmakers to use in other shots.

Although Man of Steel looks like it’ll be a fine drive-in movie, normally I wouldn’t care enough to write about it. The great part about this story is the Grams has donated that truck to the McHenry Outdoor Theater to help it raise money to buy digital projection equipment. From May 3 through August 24, each patron’s ticket stub will be entered into a drawing to win the truck. Sounds like it’ll run just well enough to return to the drive-in each week. The Daily Herald wrote, “Though the truck runs, Grams says he wouldn’t recommend driving it cross country.”

A recent story in the Northwest Herald, which serves McHenry County IL, described how a few seasonal businesses there were preparing for the return of warm weather. After spending the first half talking about an ice cream parlor, the article began discussing something we care about, the McHenry Outdoor Theater of McHenry IL.

You may remember that the McHenry was one of a swarm of Illinois drive-ins that launched Kickstarter campaigns in the hope of getting enough cash to buy digital projectors. The Northwest Herald tells us that, for the McHenry, Kickstarter didn’t work, falling about $100,000 short of its $130,000 goal. When you don’t reach a Kickstarter goal, the folks who pledged don’t have to pay anything, so the McHenry got nothing out of it. This year, they plan to try Indiegogo, where they think they’ll have a better chance at a smaller amount.

The best news is that the McHenry will reopen for another season on May 3. Let’s hope it can stay alive!