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She was one of over
20 or so cars used in the movie The REAL Christine. I acquired her in 1984.
She was the actual stunt car from the alley scene chasing Moochie up
where she corners him in the loading dock. Being pushed from behind
by a dozer, another car with rubber front end parts was used where
she actually crushes herself into the area to get Moochie. The dozer
was edited out later. 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 The REAL 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.
Since the car was not used it was scheduled to be scrapped. My
friend Al Newman from "Classic Wheels" out of Anaheim informed me
that I may be able to save her. Because of his connection with movie
cars and the studio not wanting the liability of selling these to
private parties, he picked her up for "parts." 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, rubber moldings,
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 type 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, plastic or painted
chrome silver. 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. The cars that were running were labeled "Muscle one," "Muscle
two," etc. My car had "Muscle two" on the underside of the hood. The
non runners were pulled on rolling dollies. 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 Fontana California. This is where all the
smashed cars were sent. I quickly made friends with the owner there.
I was told that possibly 25 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 Tone trim came from some of the ram cars,
and out of the 57 and 58 Plymouths in the yard I was able to put the
interior together. I was 20 years old when I found The REAL 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 all
these years. The REAL Christine has been in several "Cars and Parts" magazine
issues and is also featured on the Forward Look website
A Special Thanks to Martin for providing this information.
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