# Was the testimony of Mona Lisa Vito in "My cousin Vinny" accurate? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 10, 2015, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-testimony-of-mona-lisa-vito-in-my-cousin-vinny-accurate/709463 "2015-01-10T09:29:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_stamos_left_ear/32/3198_2.png) [@John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Stamos_Left_Ear)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2015, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-testimony-of-mona-lisa-vito-in-my-cousin-vinny-accurate/709463/1 "2015-01-10T09:29:02Z")
For those who don’t know, in the movie _My Cousin Vinny_, two New yorkers get arrested in Alabama for murdering a clerk. When the very amateurish family lawyer Vincent LaGuardia “Vinny” Gambini (played by Joe Pesci) comes to defend them, hilarity ensues. (For those who maybe haven’t seen this movie, even though it is over two decades old, please consider this a spoiler alert.) The trial culminates in Vinny putting his own girlfriend on the stand as an expert witness. The following exchange occurs over the tire tracks that were left behind at the scene which was the incriminating evidence against the two: > [@](#): > > 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. > > [the jury members nod, with murmurs of “yes,” “that’s right,” etc] > > 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 '60’s, 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. After this testimony, the FBI witness for the prosecution agrees with all of this, the local sheriff, who has run a records check at Vinny’s request, testifies that two men resembling Billy and Stan were arrested a few days earlier in Georgia for driving a stolen Pontiac Tempest, a car very similar in appearance and color to Billy’s Buick Skylark, and in possession of a gun of the same caliber used to kill the clerk. What I want to know is is this accurate? Do the facts line up with the history and could that history have been used to make the determination that Mona Lisa did in court? ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2015, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-testimony-of-mona-lisa-vito-in-my-cousin-vinny-accurate/709463/2 "2015-01-10T10:53:56Z")
Yes, I believe it’s accurate. The Tempest used a rear [transaxle](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontiac_Tempest) which was fairly rare.