Rough And Tumble
Pig. Beater. Piece of Junk. Turd. All names hurled at this ’70 Challenger during a week on the road with it. Harsh, perhaps, but uttered with the deepest affection—these epithets were always followed by the words, “I love this car!”
There’s something to be said for driving a car you’re not overly concerned about. It’s not that you’ll aim for road construction barrels with a front fender or anything (though we’ve probably all dreamed of watching them pop into the air like in the movies), it’s just that when someone slams the door or closes the hood with a little more enthusiasm than needed, it doesn’t make you cringe. Need a place to sit? The fender’s right there, and it’s even warm. Dirt parking lot after a rain storm? Donuts! Pulling into the restaurant for dinner?
There’s a nice parking place right up front there near the door, and you don’t have to worry about door dings. Maybe some of the dirt will even jump off onto the new Volvo you just parked next to. Or the ’81 Camaro on your other side.
When you get over worrying about stone chips and such, you might actually enjoy driving the car. You’ll also enjoy more of the things around you, like the scenery, the rumble of the pipes, the feel of the road under your tires, and the smell of trans fluid burning off the crossover pipe. Well, maybe that’s cause for concern, but you get the point. There’s just something rewarding about driving a car that’s “nothing special.”
But despite this Challenger’s rough and tumble (neglected?) appearance, it is something special. In fact, this car was built to look like this. Half the dirt on the car is actually brown paint, sprayed on to make it look dirty by Fox Television for the 1996 remake of Vanishing Point. This and a handful of other Challengers were used (and abused) by the production company during the filming of the movie. Three cars survived the filming intact, a fourth was dissected and mounted to the back of a flatbed truck for the interior filming, and a fifth was the irresistible object that hit the immovable bulldozer. Ted Stephens of Stephens Performance supplied Fox with hoods and other parts to give the Challengers the appearance of R/Ts. After the production company was done with them, Ted bought all four remaining cars by sealed bid and carted them back to his Alabama home. The “number one” car was the pretty one in the movie used for close-ups (originally a Lime 383/Auto R/T) and has just been given a complete concours-style restoration. That car’s original engine was replaced with a 440 for filming, and didn’t sport the Hemi until the resto.
Really dedicated Vanishing Point fans will remember that there was in fact a Hemi shown under the hood in one scene: Hollywood liberty was taken, and a ’69 Charger was called upon for the beauty shot (hence the wrong-for-a-Challenger air cleaner assembly).
The number three car, a ’73 318/auto cobbled together to look like a ’70, is on display at Floyd Garrett’s Muscle Car Museum in Sevierville, Tennessee, and remains in as-filmed condition, including its original engine and trans. The car shown here is the number two car used to shoot most of the chase scenes, and is originally a 318/auto, which was yanked in favor of a 440 and 727 trans, while the 8¾-inch was filled with 4.56 gears. This Challenger was also left in as-filmed condition, and only made celebrity appearances with Ted and his wife Jackie at Mopar shows across the country until we drove it from Denver to California.
To Hollywood, cars used in filming are nothing more than props, much like a six-shooter in a western movie. They look good from a distance, but in a real gunfight, you don’t want the prop. The same held true when getting this car ready for the road. A couple thousand miles over mountains and desert in a rattling, wind-leaking, worn-out car just didn’t cut it, so the month prior to our trip it received a mechanical and soft-parts makeover. This was with help from our friends at Year One, Firm Feel, Performance Suspension Components, Legendary Interiors, and BFGoodrich. The engine was given a new carb, a tune-up, and Tube Technologies headers/exhaust system, while the trans was fitted with a trick Pistol Grip auto-trans shifter by Gun Slinger Products (very cool; 316 California Ave, PMB 128, Reno, Nevada, 89509 (775) 789-2825, gunslinger426@juno.com).
Obviously, the prep work didn’t include fresh paint, or even a good wash. During the rehash, Ted was adamant about one thing—the character of the car’s appearance wouldn’t be altered. That meant leaving the painted-on movie dirt and not repairing any of the visual battle scars incurred while filming, of which there are many. For instance, in the chase scene through the airplane junkyard, the Challenger comes around a corner and fishtails the rearend, tipping over an old aircraft fuel tank with the driver’s side quarter-panel.
Though it wasn’t called for in the original plan, one of the prop guys thought it would look better on film if something spilled out of the tank when it tipped over, so he filled it with water, unbeknownst to the stunt driver. Water weighs about eight pounds per gallon, times a couple hundred gallons in the tank; well, you do the math. The damage to the car was predictable (to everyone except that prop guy), and the fix was typical Hollywood: whack the quarter back to close enough, slap it with filler, reshoot the paint and keep the film rolling.
Other Hollywood trickery (besides the Hemi and R/T badging) included welding a skid plate on to protect the oil pan (which necessitated the removal of the factory front sway bar and mounts), and securing the front of the hood to the frame with a length of chain. Though this would keep the hood from flying open during stunts, the chain served another purpose: to ensure that the rear edge of the hood didn’t go through the windshield and guillotine the stunt driver in case of an accident.
Naturally, there were a few gremlins that popped up during the trip. Deteriorated plenum-box seals allowed ice-cold Rocky Mountain air to shoot up the pants leg of the front-seat passenger, the high-beam lights didn’t work (which was a real treat while driving though a blizzard in the mountains with the lights still wearing the painted-on dirt), the brakes were about as affective as the Bendix on an old Schwinn Stinger (also fun during the blizzard), and the trans developed a thirsty leak. But it wouldn’t be a true road trip if everything went perfectly.
And in a sick sort of way, sometimes that’s part of the fun of owning an old car that’s nothing special.
There’s something to be said for driving a car you’re not overly concerned about. It’s not that you’ll aim for road construction barrels with a front fender or anything (though we’ve probably all dreamed of watching them pop into the air like in the movies), it’s just that when someone slams the door or closes the hood with a little more enthusiasm than needed, it doesn’t make you cringe. Need a place to sit? The fender’s right there, and it’s even warm. Dirt parking lot after a rain storm? Donuts! Pulling into the restaurant for dinner?
There’s a nice parking place right up front there near the door, and you don’t have to worry about door dings. Maybe some of the dirt will even jump off onto the new Volvo you just parked next to. Or the ’81 Camaro on your other side.
When you get over worrying about stone chips and such, you might actually enjoy driving the car. You’ll also enjoy more of the things around you, like the scenery, the rumble of the pipes, the feel of the road under your tires, and the smell of trans fluid burning off the crossover pipe. Well, maybe that’s cause for concern, but you get the point. There’s just something rewarding about driving a car that’s “nothing special.”
But despite this Challenger’s rough and tumble (neglected?) appearance, it is something special. In fact, this car was built to look like this. Half the dirt on the car is actually brown paint, sprayed on to make it look dirty by Fox Television for the 1996 remake of Vanishing Point. This and a handful of other Challengers were used (and abused) by the production company during the filming of the movie. Three cars survived the filming intact, a fourth was dissected and mounted to the back of a flatbed truck for the interior filming, and a fifth was the irresistible object that hit the immovable bulldozer. Ted Stephens of Stephens Performance supplied Fox with hoods and other parts to give the Challengers the appearance of R/Ts. After the production company was done with them, Ted bought all four remaining cars by sealed bid and carted them back to his Alabama home. The “number one” car was the pretty one in the movie used for close-ups (originally a Lime 383/Auto R/T) and has just been given a complete concours-style restoration. That car’s original engine was replaced with a 440 for filming, and didn’t sport the Hemi until the resto.
Really dedicated Vanishing Point fans will remember that there was in fact a Hemi shown under the hood in one scene: Hollywood liberty was taken, and a ’69 Charger was called upon for the beauty shot (hence the wrong-for-a-Challenger air cleaner assembly).
The number three car, a ’73 318/auto cobbled together to look like a ’70, is on display at Floyd Garrett’s Muscle Car Museum in Sevierville, Tennessee, and remains in as-filmed condition, including its original engine and trans. The car shown here is the number two car used to shoot most of the chase scenes, and is originally a 318/auto, which was yanked in favor of a 440 and 727 trans, while the 8¾-inch was filled with 4.56 gears. This Challenger was also left in as-filmed condition, and only made celebrity appearances with Ted and his wife Jackie at Mopar shows across the country until we drove it from Denver to California.
To Hollywood, cars used in filming are nothing more than props, much like a six-shooter in a western movie. They look good from a distance, but in a real gunfight, you don’t want the prop. The same held true when getting this car ready for the road. A couple thousand miles over mountains and desert in a rattling, wind-leaking, worn-out car just didn’t cut it, so the month prior to our trip it received a mechanical and soft-parts makeover. This was with help from our friends at Year One, Firm Feel, Performance Suspension Components, Legendary Interiors, and BFGoodrich. The engine was given a new carb, a tune-up, and Tube Technologies headers/exhaust system, while the trans was fitted with a trick Pistol Grip auto-trans shifter by Gun Slinger Products (very cool; 316 California Ave, PMB 128, Reno, Nevada, 89509 (775) 789-2825, gunslinger426@juno.com).
Obviously, the prep work didn’t include fresh paint, or even a good wash. During the rehash, Ted was adamant about one thing—the character of the car’s appearance wouldn’t be altered. That meant leaving the painted-on movie dirt and not repairing any of the visual battle scars incurred while filming, of which there are many. For instance, in the chase scene through the airplane junkyard, the Challenger comes around a corner and fishtails the rearend, tipping over an old aircraft fuel tank with the driver’s side quarter-panel.
Though it wasn’t called for in the original plan, one of the prop guys thought it would look better on film if something spilled out of the tank when it tipped over, so he filled it with water, unbeknownst to the stunt driver. Water weighs about eight pounds per gallon, times a couple hundred gallons in the tank; well, you do the math. The damage to the car was predictable (to everyone except that prop guy), and the fix was typical Hollywood: whack the quarter back to close enough, slap it with filler, reshoot the paint and keep the film rolling.
Other Hollywood trickery (besides the Hemi and R/T badging) included welding a skid plate on to protect the oil pan (which necessitated the removal of the factory front sway bar and mounts), and securing the front of the hood to the frame with a length of chain. Though this would keep the hood from flying open during stunts, the chain served another purpose: to ensure that the rear edge of the hood didn’t go through the windshield and guillotine the stunt driver in case of an accident.
Naturally, there were a few gremlins that popped up during the trip. Deteriorated plenum-box seals allowed ice-cold Rocky Mountain air to shoot up the pants leg of the front-seat passenger, the high-beam lights didn’t work (which was a real treat while driving though a blizzard in the mountains with the lights still wearing the painted-on dirt), the brakes were about as affective as the Bendix on an old Schwinn Stinger (also fun during the blizzard), and the trans developed a thirsty leak. But it wouldn’t be a true road trip if everything went perfectly.
And in a sick sort of way, sometimes that’s part of the fun of owning an old car that’s nothing special.
posted by Cisco Utah at 12:27 AM
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