By Fireball Tim

Movie Car Design Master

Here’s the second episode on our SEMA build!

Building the AutoTrader Classics REDSTER Episode 2

By Fireball Tim

Movie Car Design Master

Here’s the First Episode (1 of 5) of the build of our latest for AutoTrader Classics. “THE REDSTER.” New episode every Monday right here on CarDomain. The truck will be at SEMA and many other major shows across the country. Enjoy!

Building the AutoTrader Classics REDSTER Episode 1

The first reviews I’ve read make it sound pretty bad. And the trailer looks pretty weak, too. I wrote last year about how excited I was to see it, but now I think I’ll just wait for it to come out on DVD. Maybe I’ll just skip it altogether.

From time to time I bore people with a story about how I almost got a Sunbeam Tiger. It was one of those weird situations where they seller wanted to get rid of the car but didn’t seem to have a price in mind. This was about twelve years ago, the owner was my boss and I was totally broke. So I just threw out a low ball offer, and I think offended him. Anyway, it was British Racing Green just like Stephen’s car below, and I’m still kicking myself. 

Like a page right out of the script for Tokyo Drift (know-nothing white guy who gets showered with cars, tires, and money by strangers for absolutely no reason at all), actor Matt Damon somehow managed to get handed a prototype Tesla in which to tool around LA. Are we jealous? Yes. A writer from Autofiends caught up with Damon outside a Studio City coffee shop, where actor explained that the light blue roadster is an earlier prototype with the 2-speed tranmission—the one that’s been giving Tesla so much trouble that they decided to throw it out and scramble together a new driveline for production cars. And yes, only the high gear works, so off-the-line accelleration is kind of flabby. Despite all this, Damon says he’s still gonna get one for the permanent collection. And meanwhile, The Truth About Cars considers Matt Damon’s endorsement to be a sign of Tesla’s imminent demise. Click below the jump for all the pics!

Continue reading "Matt Damon! How Come He Gets A Tesla?" »

Today I’m headed to LA to check out the set of Fast and Furious (yep, that’s now the fourth installment’s working title). Unfortunately I’m going to be forbidden from saying anything about the visit until the embargo is lifted, but while I’m on set I’ll totally be looking out for the numerous CarDomain member rides that have been cast to appear in the film—like haddytech’s awesome Kia Spectra! Be sure to let me know in the comments if you or your ride will be there as well.

The latest word is that the newest FF installment will be simply called Fast and Furious—filmmakers apparently decided that fans could handle neither complex numerology nor the repetition of the word "the." The film is slated for release on June 5th, 2009, and as for content, the plot summary released by Universal corroborates certain previously leaked details, but doesn’t tell us a lot we don’t already know. Quoted in Cinematical, this is the extent of it:

"When a crime brings them back to L.A., fugitive ex-con Dom Toretto (Diesel) reignites his feud with agent Brian O’Conner (Walker). But as they are forced to confront a shared enemy, Dom and Brian must give in to an uncertain new trust if they hope to outmanuever him."

The most comprehensive plot summary online is the still the unofficial one on Latino Review, and even it only covers the film’s initial setup. Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordanna Brewster, and Michelle Rodriguez are all returning, though Letty (Rodriguez) gets killed off early by drug dealers (hence the funeral scene a CarDomain member supplied to you previously), catalyzing the action by forcing Diesel and Walker’s characters to collaborate to avenge her death. Even Tokyo Drift’s Han, who’s supposed to be dead, will be making an appearance, suggesting that Fast and Furious is to be a prequel to Tokyo Drift (and accounting for Diesel’s otherwise inexplicable appearance at the end of the last film).

But enough of all that—we all know that plot is hardly the point of these films anyway. Here’s some more pics of cars on the set of the film, via VWVortex—including some closeups of the studio-owned E36 that another member filmed spinning donuts, before it crashed into a bunch of the other cars.

Two-Lane Blacktop (1971) is perhaps the greatest street racing film of all time (sorry Fast and Furious fans). And the ’55 Chevy used in the film is one of the greatest hero cars ever. In fact, it was so cool that it was also used again in American Graffiti (as the car driven by Harrison Ford). The same car.

Actually, there were three cars built by Richard Ruth for Two-Lane, and two of them were used in American Graffiti. The main car from Two-Lane was also used as the main car for American Graffiti. It was built with a 427 crate motor, M-22 Muncie, 4.88 Olds rear, fiberglass front end, doors, and trunk lid, and straight axle front suspension. It was heavily modified in the 80s and now barely resembles the car from either movie. The second car was the camera car for Two-Lane, and was used for all the interior shots. It was similar to the main car, but was built with a 454 crate motor. This same car also provided the engine sounds for the Trans Am in Smokey and the Bandit. It was restored to the condition you see in the photo below. The third car was used as the stunt car in both movies, and was rolled in American Graffiti. It was an all steel-bodied car equipped with a 454 crate motor, TH 400 automatic, and Olds rear. Sadly, this car was crushed in the late 70s. Some links and more photos after the jump.

Continue reading "'55 Chevy from Two-Lane Blacktop and American Graffiti" »

[Check out all of our Fast and Furious coverage here, including breaking stories and rare spy videos!—Ed.]

The first casualty of The Fast and the Furious 4 turned out to be this sick Honda S2000, which somehow managed to get on the bad side of the character once famously accused of having "a gas tank for a brain." The car’s owner, Ben over at Bespoke Ventures, probably under a gag order from Universal, doesn’t explain the circumstances under which "Vin got a little more into character than we all expected," but the vehicle’s hood, fender, and headlight clearly bore the brunt of it. Those custom graphics are going to be tough to match, but Ben’s being a good sport about the whole thing: he’s already selling a "Vin Diesel Broke My Car" T-shirt on cafepress. Careful, Ben: I don’t know if you wanna taunt the dude who once beat a guy half to death with a 3/4" torque wrench.

Want to know how Vin smashed the car? Check out Ben’s 8/28 update!

Everyone hates Nazis, especially Illinois Nazis. Too bad their cool orange Pinto wagon had to die with them. Believe it or not, the producers of the Blues Brothers had to get a special airworthiness (or unworthiness?) certificate for the Pinto from the FAA to certify that the car would not fly off-course when it was dropped from a helicopter in the famous scene. As a result, they first had to drop a duplicate car in a remote area to see how far off from vertical it would travel while falling. So two Pintos died for the sake of art. Oh well… Sadly, I could not find a photo of the actual drop.

Update: check out this site. Thanks for the link Gary!

Dazed and Confused is one of my favorite movies, and it’s also one of my favorite car movies. It doesn’t have a lot in the way of car chases, but it has a ton of cool cars which help to establish various characters and move the action forward. The two main car stars are the 1973 Duster driven by Ben Affleck’s character, and the 1970 Chevelle SS 454 driven by Matthew McConaughey’s character. If you haven’t seen it, or if it’s been a while, be sure it add it to your Netflix queue. I dropped in a few more pics after the jump, and you can see them all over at IMCDB.com.

Continue reading "Cars of Dazed and Confused" »