Autoblog

Click above to view fanboy promo

The quintessential car chase may have been immortalized in movies like The French Connection and Bullitt, but there have been dozens of chase flicks with everything from Pontiac Trans Ams to Dodge Challengers as the star. The 1971 movie Vanishing Point served as a classic for Mopar faithful, as the film centers around a troubled car delivery guy trying to get a supercharged 1970 Challenger from Colorado to San Fransisco in 15 hours while the fuzz is on his tail.

With an all-new Challenger on the horizon, one fan took the time to make a video tribute to the muscle car vs. police movie, and the early reviews are positive. The amateur movie maker took clips from the original movie and spliced in Chrysler b-roll of the 2008 SRT Challenger for a very well produced faux promo. We were especially impressed with the effects employed to superimpose clips of the new Challenger in action over the old movie clips. Hit the jump to watch the one-minute short, and if you haven't seen the original movie, we've also embedded the original theatrical trailer for Vanishing Point. Thanks for the tip, Mitch!

[Source: YouTube]

While he's shown a certain flair for historical pieces, we sincerely doubt that Clint Eastwood would forego his formidable film-crafting talent to make a documentary about a mid 1970's Ford that can be had for a dollar per pound. Details are scant, but Warner Brothers has targeted December 2008 as a release date for Gran Torino, which Eastwood both stars in and directs. Eastwood is no stranger to the big Ford - he drove a '72 in Magnum Force, the sequel to Dirty Harry, in which he wheeled a '68 Ford Custom. Despite the title we tend to doubt the movie will be terribly car-centric - who'd want to watch that?

[Source: Variety via Inside Line]

While we get all revved up over the revival of Speed Racer in film form, our funny friends in France are gearing up for the remake of their own children's classic, Asterix. The new film, which opens in French theaters next month, is slated to feature cameos by a number of sports figures, including Ferrari stars Michael Schumacher and Jean Todt.

Set in the ancient Roman era, Asterix is a classic series of French children's comic books which has been translated into dozens of languages around the world. The film which, like Speed Racer, is shot with live actors (rather than animated like the original), is called Asterix aux jeux olympiques ("Asterix at the Olympic Games"). Schumacher appears in a seven-minute segment in the movie as a chariot racer called – you guessed it – Schumix, while Todt gives orders from the pit wall...dressed in red, of course. (Hopefully the German authorities won't give Michael a hard time about driving the chariot this time.)

In addition to the Ferrari champions, several other European sports celebrities make cameos in the movie as well, including French tennis player Amelie Mauresmo, retired French soccer player Zinedine Zidane (of World Cup head-butting infamy) and British footballer David Beckham. This is, of course, the second such cameo Schumacher has made, after his appearance in Disney/Pixar's Cars.

[Source: F1-Live]

There was a Robocop 3? Apparently so, it even had theatrical release, but it should have gone directly to video. The most memorable thing from the Robocop franchise, at least for us, were the Taurus police cars. They featured prominently in all of the installments, 3 included. Now for those of us who had the AMT/Ertl kit (I had the SHO cop car, not the Robo 1), you can pick up the real thing. This isn't just a hand-me-down Taurus that got a rattlecan paintjob, either, but the last surviving automotive cast member from the final installment.

A longing for the movie and TV icon cars of the 1980s seems to be a common dork affliction – witness the fact you can buy flux capacitors and KITT, uh, kits. It takes a special breed to consider spending more on this '88 Taurus than it likely cost new. If you have no problem dropping $20,000 of today's dollars on yesterday's prop, the Volo Auto Museum has your ride. The car is fully documented and carries a George Barris signature (George seems to have signed any and everything...) and several other prop items. There's even a Robocop suit for an extra three grand if you want to go all-out.

[Source: Hemmings]

Now here's a Fiero bodykit that's worthwhile. TransFX, a California-based custom car maker responsible for several GM concepts as well as lots and lots of Batman's cars, boats, and planes, built four of these bodies for a Universal Studios project. Designed to be mounted on a stretched Fiero chassis, only a single roadgoing version exists, and the Volo Auto Museum will sell that to you for $65,000. You could spend less than one third that price and pick up this body shell, allowing you to then dream up your own undercarriage. We think it'd be good with a Porsche Boxster plugged in underneath.

What you get for $14,000 is a very cool futuristic bodyshell on casters. The outside might look an awful lot like a car, but climbing underneath tells the whole story. There's nothing to this car, yet. Its just waiting for you to marry your chassis to its bodywork. Then you'll have the task of creating the entire wiring harness, installing all the lights, the interior, and about a quintillion little issues that always crop up with kit cars, which this essentially is. What we want to know is what ever became of the project these props were commissioned for. We also hope that whoever wins the auction at least uses a Fiero GT as a donor. It just wouldn't do to put this car on a 2M4. The Iron Duke is definitely not an engine befitting Batman. Then again, the GT's 2.8 is merely suited to Boy Wonder. Now, a Northstar starts to show promise. Hmm.

Thanks for the tip, Jordan!

Here's what you're doing tonight. You're going to your local big box retailer and walking out with a copy of Michael Bay's CG-extravaganza that was one of last summer's coolest ways to waste a couple hours: Transformers. We've all been inundated by the ad blitz, and now the DVD and HD-DVD are in stores now, still warm and offgassing from the pressing plant. You should do your homework to make sure you get the exclusive edition you want, though. Target's got the coolest, a DVD case that actually transforms into Optimus Prime, but Wal-Mart's got the prequel bundled with the film. If you're really hardcore and you need to have both, you'll end up with two copies of the feature. Or you could just go to Best Buy and get the two action figures and be done with it.

If you're in the Hollywood area, you can actually hang out with Bumblebee as he stands guard over the West Hollywood Gateway shopping center. It's an actual prop from the movie, and we think it's a brilliant idea to send Autobots out to promote their own DVD. After all, the life of unemployed Transformer can be tough (see video after the jump). The Hollywood Bumblebee is huge, you'd need Ironhide to tow it around, but you can also enter to win a Bumblebee Camaro when the model goes live in 2009.

[Source: Cinematical, Slashfilm, FilmSchoolRejects]

Because the first three were such highly regarded cinematic art, The Fast and The Furious franchise may expand to a fourth waste of film movie. Currently, the project is in development by Universal, and nothing for production is nailed down. Rumors will suffice in lieu of real facts, though.

The conjecture machine has characters from the first three movies coming together for another installment of vehicular hijinks. This time, the action will be set in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Cars will be a mix of old and new, such as a return to the 1970 Dodge Charger used in the original movie, as well as a new Camaro, a South-American Chevrolet Opala, and a Buick GNX may even make an appearance. We can hardly wait, even though we were so rapt watching "Tokyo Drift" that we can't imagine topping that particular masterpiece.

[Source: Inside Line]

Doesn't it always look so convincing? Star lead actor is frantically sawing at the wheel, and when it cuts back to the wide, damn if that wasn't a perfectly clipped apex, with a tinge of four wheel drift counteracted by just the right amount of opposite lock. Even Steve McQueen couldn't pull it off for Bullitt. The real story behind all those inspiring scenes of cars whipping hither and yon is that they're piloted by stunt drivers who have one of the best car guy jobs ever.

There's a nice little sequel to a sequel quietly making its way to theaters, perhaps you've heard of the Bourne Ultimatum? Besides offering a cinematic venue for Matt Damon to further cement his status as a cross between James Bond and John McClane, its serving as a nice little advertisement for Volkswagen's second generation Touareg. Several of the vehicles were given the General Lee treatment (i.e. a couple were kept nice, a whole bunch were thrashed and trashed) during the 140 days of production. Even the stunt drivers were impressed at how the Touaregs just hunkered down and took whatever abuse they were thrown. To get all those bitchin' shots requires maneuvers that'd make you screw up your face in horror. We're talking about things you wouldn't even do to a rented car.

[Source: Telegraph.co.uk]

Coinciding with the launch of the new Bourne Ultimatum movie, Volkswagen has launched an interactive stunt simulator that allows fans to play out their own stunts online as many times as they want. Users can maneuver any of six different VW models through different explosions, while altering vehicle speeds, props, sound effects and camera angles to make that perfect scene.

Product placement in the movie has several VW vehicles making an appearance, including the Touareg 2 SUV and Golf GTI, a smart move seeing that The Bourne Ultimatum has grossed more than $70 million in its first weekend. That's a hell of lot of viewers seeing VW's new models up on the big screen.

[Source: Bourne Simulator]

UPDATE: Don't fret all you Steve McQueen fans. After reading our post, Ford got in touch Brad Pitt's management, who don't know anything about the remake or Pitt's involvement. The credibility of this rumor's source, Monsters and Critics, was also called into question. Still, with all the positive buzz GM has earned for its involvement with Transformers, you'd think Ford would be all over a remake the stars Brad Pitt next to a recently released Bullitt Mustang.

Not unlike the retro styling and resurrection of old nameplates sweeping the car industry, some film critics bemoan the lack of originality inherent in the Hollywood trend of remaking old films, while others relish the opportunity to refresh classics for younger generations. One way or another, the latest Hollywood announcement has us frothing at the mouth, as the green-light has been given to start production on a remake of the most iconic of gearhead films of all time: the Steve McQueen classic "Bullitt".

Endeavoring to fill the legendary McQueen's pedals will be none other than Brad Pitt, who will take on the role of Lt. Frank Bullitt of the San Francisco Police Department, hunting down the hitman who killed his fellow officers. Pitt's co-stars have not yet been announced, but with the anticipated launch of the new Bullitt Mustang, the smart product-placement money would be on its inclusion in the new movie along with the Dodge Charger R/T, the two cars that made the famous race scene in the original.

This should be interesting.

[Source: Monsters and Critics via Mustangblog]