Silver Bullet may be holed up in town

By: BETTY JOHNSTON - Staff Writer | Friday, December 23, 2005 10:39 PM PST ∞

A man named Chris Soldo (not a Fallbrook resident) has, by now, spent several years trying to catch a bus.

Well, that's not really accurate; what he's trying to do, at present, is trace, not catch, a bus. And it's not exactly a bus, either, but a motor home called the Silver Bullet.

Manufactured by the Streamline Trailer Co., a small company at one time located in El Monte, the Silver Bullet was presented, in 1965, Soldo says, to actor David Janssen, who used it as an on-location dressing room ---- "a comfortable place to go between shots" during filming of the TV series "The Fugitive."

Soldo is of the opinion that it was last seen in Fallbrook, about 15 or 20 years ago ---- and there the trail of this automotive fugitive goes cold.

Soldo has never explained exactly why he'd like to find the Silver Bullet, but he has amassed a lot of information about its history. Elliott Shapiro, a driver employed by, or for, Janssen, drove the actor home to Malibu in the Bullet from a "Harry O" set on day he died, Soldo said.

"In May 1980, the estate of David Janssen sold the bus for $2500 to Alan C. 'Pete' Wilson, an old Fort Ord Army buddy and longtime friend of Janssen who was in the horse trade," according to Soldo's research notes. Shapiro and actor Martin Milner, also a Janssen friend, delivered it to its new owner. "He (Wilson) soon sold it to someone at the Del Mar racetrack who used it for storage there."

Soldo followed the flight of the Bullet through several more episodes: "A man from Ohio bought it, came to California to get it, drove it 100 miles, then died suddenly. His sister and her husband, Claire and Jerry Harvey from El Cajon acquired it and kept it a few months. Claire sold it to her niece and (niece's) husband, James Johnson. They kept it for over a year, replaced the original front seats, (and) used it on trips."

"(Johnson) sold it to a Santee man named Steve Spivey." Spivey, Soldo said, recalls that in the early 90s he sold it through a newspaper ad to a retired Marine who planned to take it to Fallbrook.

The bus has an aluminum shell, with gold banding on the front and sides, Soldo said, and bore Janssen's initials, DMJ, below the windshield, and its "Silver Bullet" name below the front passenger window. The original Ford engine number was 3474-R10KC.

"The current owner is probably unaware of the vehicle's celebrity-linked past."

Soldo can be reached by e-mail at drkimble@davidjanssen.net by anyone with information.

Contact staff writer Betty Johnston at (760) 731-6720 or (760) 451-5009, or at bjohnston@nctimes.com or bettyj@tfb.com.

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