With all this talk on Christine over the past week, I happen to be on a
Christine web site, that my car has a page on and found a 4th surviving
movie car. If you had the chance to see Octobers Car & Parts, it is the
Christine car at the Vegas show. I had the chance to meet the owner by
e-mail and he shared the story with me and would like me to share it with
Forward Look. The car is the Moochie killer, and opens up some light on how
the stunt cars were set up inside behind the black windows. His story also
falls in with the junk yard story that was shared last week. Please
enjoy....
She was one of over 20 cars used in the movie Christine. I acquired her in
1984. She was the actual stunt car from the alley scene chasing Moohie. She
was the only 3 speed overdrive in the bunch. I know this because the guys on
the set forgot and when they went to start her up she was in gear and lunged
forward almost taking out some equipment. "Bad Christine," they shouted.
I bought her 18 years ago from the
back lot of a studio in L.A. She was going to be saved for a movie that was
in the works at the time called "Cat's Eye," however, they found a perfect
red and white Belvedere 4 door and shot the footage they needed from the
front and then the rear and did not have to spend the time trying to fix up
the wrecked one. Since the car was not used it was scheduled to be scrapped.
My friend Al from "Classic Wheels" out of Anaheim, informed me that I may be
able to save her. I was able to buy her for 900 dollars and flat bedded her
home along with boxes of parts. I was also given a script, movie stills,
press kit, fake rubber moldings, trim, fenders, etc. I even found the
"CQB-241" license plate that was on the car during the filming in the trunk.
When I bought the car she had no
interior, just a simple
roll cage, 5 point harness, one plastic racing seat and the windows were all
painted black on the inside with the exception of a small driver section
which was a patch of black window tint so that the stunt man could see. Most
of the stainless moldings and trim were rubber or plastic. There was also
4x4 inch wooden beams between the firewall and front core support and the
radiator was mounted in the trunk so that in crash scenes the radiator fluid
would not spill out. Al from Classic told me where all the wrecks were sent
and I was allowed to go into "Bill and Ed's Auto Wrecking" in Chino Calif.
This is where all the smashed cars were sent. I quickly made friends with
the owner there. I was told that a total of 27 Plymouths were used. Sadly, a
very small handful were actual Fury's.
It took the film makers almost 2 1/2 years to
locate them through DMV records and adds. Ironically, like Arnie, I was able
to pull parts off the wrecked cars. Most of my front and rear stainless came
from the burn car. They had used rubber cement and poured it all over the
car and set it on fire. The sport line trim came from some of the ram cars,
and out of the 57 and 58 Belvederes in the yard, I was able to put the
interior together. I was 20 years old when I found Christine and put her
back together. I did not set out to build a show car, just a nice driver and
she is still running
and looking good after 18 years. I have more pictures and you are welcome to
use them on your web site.
My car started out life as a Belvedere, Hollywood made her a star.
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