Mad Max is a film series starring a highly disgruntled and slightly traumatized Maxwell Rockatansky, aka Mad Max, portrayed by Mel Gibson (1979, 1981, and 1984) and Tom Hardy (2015). These movies take place in Australia in a post-apocalyptic world ravaged by nuclear war, where water and gas are scarce commodities. The inhabitants of this world rely on their cars for everything, from hunting down rival gangs and meals to taking shelter in from enormous electrical and dust storms.
The most famous car in the franchise is Max’s Falcon, known as the ‘Pursuit Special’ and referred to as the ‘Last of the V8 Interceptors’. The Mad Max Interceptor is one of the most famous cars in movie history – a feat made even more impressive by the fact that the first movie only had a budget of $200,000 (around $1.2 million in 2022), a small amount of money for making an action movie.
Being produced over such a time span and another one or two movies in the works, there are obviously huge differences between the cars of the films. Here are some facts that you may or may not have known about Mad Max’s Interceptor. Minor spoilers are ahead for those who have yet not seen the films.
8 It Was Introduced In 1979
The ‘V8 Interceptor’ was introduced as Max’s ride in Mad Max (1979), featured sparsely in Mad Max 2 (1981) before being blown up, and had no appearance at all in Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome (1985). It reappeared in the 2015 film, Mad Max: Fury Road – albeit shortly – before being disassembled by war boys at the start of the film and then crushed between two trucks near the end.
The famous ‘Pursuit Special’ we see in the first Mad Max movie, started out as a 1976 Ford Falcon XB GT Hardtop, painted in standard white. It was fitted with a 351cui (5.8-liter) V8, producing 250 hp and 350 lb-ft of torque.
7 It Was An Australian Car
The Ford Falcon was a full-size family and muscle car, produced by Ford Australia from 1960 to 2016. It was designed, developed, and built in Australia, for the Australian market, following the phasing-out of the American-influenced Falcon of the late 1960s. The Falcon has since become a legendary model, sparking a localized muscle car war with the also-Australian Holden Commodore.
This status was aided by the ‘Pursuit Special’ of the Mad Max films, making it one of the most famous movie cars in history – right behind James Bond’s Aston Martin DB5 and Doc Brown’s DeLorean Time Machine.
6 It Had A Fake Supercharger For The First Film
For the first film in the franchise, Mad Max (1979), the ‘Pursuit Special’ was modified from the standard Falcon GT. It featured black paint, with the ‘Main Force Patrol’ logo in gold on the front fender, just behind the front wheel. It also had custom front and back lip spoilers, flared wheel arches, side-exit exhausts, and a front nose cone and air dam, marketed to be in the ‘Concorde’ style.
The most famous added feature of the car was the massive Weiand 6-71 supercharger protruding through the hood. Whilst it looked impressive, in reality, the supercharger wasn’t connected to the engine, making it a non-functioning prop for the first film. For Mad Max 2 (1981) and Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) however, director George Miller insisted on making the props as authentic as possible, so the ‘Pursuit Special’ seen in that film is fitted with a functional supercharger.
5 Fury Road (2015) Had Fake Interceptors
For the 2015 movie, the production team could not find any XB Falcons for the movie, due to their scarcity, so they were forced to build three Falcons from scratch. Even for the second film, the production team struggled to get their hands on one, resorting to saving the original car from a scrapyard.
This was the case with many of the cars found in Fury Road (2015), as director George Miller decided to use as little VFX as possible to make the movie feel authentic. The cars and trucks used were all custom-built for the film.
4 It Produced Around 600 HP
With the addition of a functional supercharger, instead of producing a meager 250 hp, the production team fiddled with the engine, eventually getting around 600 hp out of it – more than enough for the purposes of the film.
This was in direct contrast to Smokey and the Bandit II (1980), where Burt Reynold’s Pontiac Firebird Trans Am Turbo had to be fitted with nitrous injection in order to get the desired performance out of it for the chase sequences in the film.
3 It Had A 40 Gallon Fuel Tank
For the 1981 film, Mad Max 2, the story had shifted to Max scouring the desert for rations and fuel with only a dog to keep him company. The ‘Pursuit Special’ also featured new modifications, including revised side-exit exhausts, larger wheels on the rear, and two cylindrical fuel tanks, equating to a total of 40 gallons.
This was a necessary modification, not only for the purposes of the plot for the film but also for practicality during filming. The improved engine turned out to be quite a gas guzzler and having a huge fuel tank meant that the crew didn’t have to fill it up quite as often.
2 It Is Almost Impossible To Get One
Today, it is almost impossible to find an XB Falcon for sale as, whilst they were popular during their production years, they have mostly disappeared from the market. Many of the ones for sale (when they are available) are easily over AUS$200,000 (more than US$150,000) making the XB Falcon GT one rare and expensive classic muscle car to find.
It is almost easier to buy a Mad Max-inspired custom Falcon than to wait for a clean, rust free XB GT to go on sale. The other option is to wait for a barn find car to end up at an auction.
1 Where Are They Now?
Today, the few Ford Falcon XB GTs left can be found in the hands of enthusiasts and museums in Australia, with some having found their way to collectors all across the world. The original ‘V8 Interceptor Pursuit Special’ from the first film was available to be viewed at the Cars of the Stars Museum in Keswick, England, until its closure in 2011. Since then, the car has been housed at the Miami Auto Museum in Florida as part of their ‘Dezer Collection’ – an assortment of more than 1,100 classic, antique, and unique (mostly movie) vehicles started by Israeli-born, Michael Dezer.
In February 2020, the car – along with many other movie cars – was put up for sale by the museum. It would make for an interesting conversation piece if one owned probably the most famous car in Australian film history.