They wrecked a (fake) Ferrari 250GT California in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”. I believe the car was a replica built on an old Corvette chassis.
I rented “Gone in 60 Seconds” hoping for some great cars and some excellent chase scenes (it was obvious the movie itself was going to be crap), and i was really disappointed. The cars never really made much of an appearance, and there was only one half-decent chase scene towards the end. I still love the Lamborghini Countach chase scenes at the beginning of the “Cannonball Run” movies.
Someone referred to the Lamborghini Miura which crashed in “The Italian Job”, but forgot to mention the two E-type Jaguars and the old Aston Martin (a DB4, i think) that were wrecked by the mafia boss’s bulldozer on the mountain pass. That was tear-jerking stuff.
Just wanted to point out that the car in ‘Bullitt’ was a ‘Bathtub’ Porsche (model 356, IIRC), not a Karmann Ghia. Hey, I’d take it if I got to ride around with Jackie Bisset in her prime.
Okay, I haven’t seen The Fast and the Furious, but I could tell that it was a 1970 Charger, not a '69. Their website says otherwise, but it is a '70, look at the grille (and the side marker lights). I know, I have a '69 Charger. Yes, this car has 'nads (mine “only” has a 383 magnum, not a hemi). I also knew the movie car was destroyed because they showed it in the commercial (why do they do that?).
On The Dukes of Hazzard, they built 229 General Lees and 18 survived (15 of which are known to be privately owned). There are also 2 “destroyed” cars that have been discovered and purchased by private collectors, but remain in “rough” shape. The second reunion movie saw the end of one more General Lee (they actually did a new jump that destroyed a car). I think they built three new ones for this. I don’t protest the destruction of these cars, however. The show adds to the legend. To this day, 1969 Dodge Chargers are still not too difficult to find, but I won’t be jumping mine over any barns, at least until the ground is soft next spring.
I dunno…it was a severe work jobber. Even when Dom was explaining it, he listed off more rebuilt and upgrades than I could count. Why couldn’t he put a 70 front on it?
Anyway, I did wince when they destroyed it. My mom (a female dragger in her time…ranked in 12s with a modified Cheville) was with me and said it hurt her to see it.
Still it was nice to see the movie paid homage to true power in its time. Seeing that Charger wheelie from the horses off the hole shot was GREAT!
No matter what the kids say, American steel can still hold its own on the flats
What I want to know is whatever happened to that little VW Bug from Bullitt that somehow managed to pull ahead of Steve McQueen 5 times during the big car chase!
Karmann Schmarmann. Anyway, the Carmen Ghia is the only car that’s had an opera named after it
Another Steven McQueen: in his final film, The Hunter, he drives a big muscle car. The two men he’s hunting steal it and chase him around a field before the car gets blown up by a stick of dynamite. Anyone know what the muscle car is?
Anyone have a body count from Blues Brothers? I can’t even imagine how many Coronets and Satellites died to make that chase…
While I’m on my feet…
Why do directors think it’s such a cool statement on our materialistic values (or some such crap) to destroy Cadillacs?
“And here, class, the highly respected Wolfgang Schnitzengruben is showing his disdain for bourgeois values by exploding a mint condition 1959 Eldorado Biarritz”
YOU BASTARD!!
Knock it off, damnit! Would it kill ya to use a Lincoln or something once in a while? Yeesh!
Well, the '70 didn’t have a standard bumper. Instead, it went around the grille. This would mean that a new set of front fenders would need to be put on in order to replace the grille. I’ve also been told that the hood latch is different on the '70 (haven’t seen it), so the hood would have to be re-done. It’s possible to convert a '70 to a '69 or vice versa (i’ve seen it done), but there’s really not a reason to do it (I’ve seen it done only when making a General Lee replica). The rear fenders also have different side marker lights (the '69s only have reflectors). Yeah, but you never know. I’d havet o see the movie to know for sure.
I just watched On the Beach last night, with the cataclysmic “last Grand Prix.”
At least six classic race cars are destroyed, including two 356s, an Austin, what I think is a Morgan, and perhaps even a Jaguar C-Type. I’d love to see an accurate list.
On the bright side, Fred Astaire’s Ferrari, a D-Type, and a Lotus all survive, temporarily.
One of my favorite movies, partly because the opening scenes were filmed in and around the town where I spent the first 11 years of my life. We had to move away a few months before filming began. Not that it would have mattered much, the only scenes filmed in our town involved the payphones and them driving away.
The car in question was indeed a rented Trans Am and was returned on a flatbed. Well, “Papa” did ask for something older!
The Ferrari was actually a kitcar replica based on a modified MGB. Cameron wasn’t kidding when he said less than 100 were made. Only about 60 were made, and the car in the film was a particularly rare variety that is worth (IIRC) over $2 million.
An interesting note: After the movie came out, Ferrari sued the kitcar company that produced the kit for using the Ferrari logo without permission. The lawsuit bankrupt the company and forced them out of business.
