For decades there has been a great deal of interest in Mad Max and the cars that were used in making the movies, and after the success of the most recent installment, that interest has reached its zenith.
It makes a lot of sense that as that excitement has now started to wane, the original car—now located in Florida after doing something of a world tour in its lifetime—is up for sale. It is a car with a very interesting story, going from a Cinema icon to the scrapheap in short order, then brought back to life from the brink to then change hands several times and now seemingly end up homeless once again.
Here are the 10 things we just learned about the Pursuit Special that could be yours if you put in the right bid.
10 Based On A Ford Falcon GT
Specifically, the 1973 XB-series Australian Falcon. Although the movie came out in 1979, it was on a strict budget and chose an older model that they could modify a little to get the desired effect.
What a fantastic effect it was, with the car being talked up early in the movie and much was made of its incredible performance (that in actuality didn’t quite match up in reality).
9 Movie Car Had A 351 Cleveland
The real car had a mostly standard 351 Cleveland V8, the engine sold in these Falcon GT cars at the time.
It was no slouch, able to make 300 horsepower but that was exactly half of the 600 horsepower they claimed the “Interceptor” had, not to mention the DOHC and the Nitrous.
8 The Famous Blower Did Nothing
Arguably the most imposing part of the car, the iconic blower sticking out of the hood did exactly squat!
This is the sad reality of a fictional, somewhat mythical car; not everything is as it seems. It was just neatly bolted on top of the Cleveland pushrod, not quite DOHC engine.
7 Traded For Work Done After The First Movie
It took some time before they saw any money for this movie, which could have just as easily flown under the proverbial radar and been lost to us forever.
Making a movie is expensive, and one of the stuntmen agreed to take the car as payment for his role as both the stuntman and mechanic who helped set up the car.
6 Bought Back And Heavily Modified For Mad Max 2
Thankfully for us fans, it was a sensational hit, and they quickly agreed to make a sequel, and eventually a third movie, but the less said about that the better.
With the cash injection they needed, they were able to buy back the original and give it the necessary touches to make it clear that they had been in the “wasteland” for around three years, including a new paint job, huge auxiliary fuel tanks, and a “Dog” seat.
5 Almost Scrapped
In a bizarre twist of fate, the decision was made to just have the car scrapped after they finished filming (there is surely a story behind this).
Thankfully that was not the end of the road for this car, just the end of its glamorous film career that inspired countless new post-apocalyptic automotive enthusiasts.
4 Rediscovered And Incorrectly Restored
It was not long before the car surfaced again, with a now huge following, the gamble that the scrap dealer took to keep the car rather than following the request to scrap it paid off.
He sold it on and the car changed hands multiple times, getting shipped to the US, then back to Australia, and finally after it got “restored,” started touring in Australia looking like a strange hybrid of the two movies.
3 Sold Into Collections Around The World
Collectors around the world started taking note of the movie car, even if the gloss black paint and the big fuel tanks didn’t quite add up.
After getting sold a few times it eventually landed up at the Cars of the Stars Museum in the UK where it found a home until the Museum closed in 2011.
2 Up for Sale Again
After making it to the US for the second time, and staying in Florida for what we might have imagined being its retirement, it suddenly got put up for sale again in February.
It is hard to determine exactly how much the car is worth, some have estimated it to be in the millions of dollars, but the car is begging to get a proper restoration that would more accurately represent either the first or second movie instead of this strange combination of the two.
1 Imitations Look More Like The Actual Movie Car
It is a travesty that the imitations actually recreate the movie car in a more convincing way. With period correct parts, more accurate movie paint, and even details like the “Interceptor” decals make them somehow more authentic... or are they more fake?
The real car quite simply has changed, it doesn’t look real but no matter what, it is the only one of its kind left, with the stunt car signing off in a glorious blazing ball of flames in the second movie!