Well, probably not- a career of filming Ukrainian junkies performing lewd acts with surplus Soviet Navy dental gear requires more dedication to one's craft than I can muster. Anyway, during 1984 and 1985 I put together a few short Super 8 films, with my sleazeball friends as cast and plenty of beater vehicles. You've already seen the protagonist of The Green Death, a cautionary sex-education film warning America's youth of a brain-dissolving STD, siphoning gas for his '68 Cyclone, and now I've dug up a few outtakes from The Phone Police, a crypto-documentary showing the psychosurgical methods employed by lab-coated, Ford Granada-driving rent-a-cops employed by The Bell System. We've got the beater 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air owned by my friend Willy (seen here flying off the hood of his car) and the evil ex-rental-car 1979 Ford Granada that spent most of the 1980s as La Familia Martin's vehicular punching bag; I believe it had already been wrecked and repaired with junkyard parts on three occasions at the time of The Phone Police's shooting.

Le Casse gives the viewer all those things and more! Omar Sharif behind the wheel of that all-time great high-speed chase vehicle- the Opel Rekord- and Jean-Paul Balmondo trying to escape him in his screamin' Fiat 124. You may have to suspend your disbelief a touch, as that 124's rear suspension manages to survive a dozen or so death-blow curb impacts, but that's what movies are all about! Thanks to Stefan for the tip.

There is a scene in Batman Begins which is both a wink to the Lamborghini cognoscenti and a gesture of the kind of machismo which finds close contact between women exciting.

Bruce Wayne arrives at a party in a black Lamborghini Murciélago Roadster, that most Batman of road cars, disembarks, and is followed by two stunning young ladies who both emerge from the Murc’s single passenger seat:

While a perfect adolescent fantasy and a testament to the Murciélago’s image as a pussy magnet, would a superhero really want to transport his female companions stacked?

And have them pummeled and beaten and crushed by the savage acceleration, their only cushioning each other’s silk-clad body?

In the film, Wayne’s companions end up having to cool their bruises off in a decorative pool, setting off a chain of events which will see our hero shamed in public, depicted as nothing but a moneyed oaf.

Thankfully, the kind people of Lamborghini have though of everything. Granted, their thinking is from back when Batman was a comic book instead of a motion picture franchise, but the decades have not corrupted their logic.

The elegant answer to Wayne’s need is very simply the four-seater Lamborghini Espada, shown here in a painting by Bill Klemm with room to spare in comfort for yet another companion:

Then again, good times do not necessarily require the presence of throngs:

Image Credit: Warner Bros., Bill Klemm, Balázs Fenyő

It appears that the guy in the 5, finding himself behind the CX, takes a "short cut" across the countryside in order to reappear… still behind the CX. Some pretty good Franco-hoonage here, and that's what counts!

Yes, that's Quinton "Rampage" Jackson playing Mr. T playing B.A. Baracus. Bradley Cooper is Face. Sharlto Copley from District 9 is playing Murdoch while Liam Neeson will lead the new A-Team as Hannibal. And yes, that is the GMC van behind them. All is right in the world.

[via ETOnline]

The return of the Interceptor makes us wonder if this movie will be some kind of prequel, as Max's rare-in-story Ford XB Falcon was thoroughly blown to smithereens in The Road Warrior. The truck on the other hand looks like a hot wheels car, with a ridiculously huge supercharged engine and a thoroughly chopped top. Looks like every Billetproof builders wet dream, and we wouldn't sneeze at taking it for a spin either. The two are part of what's expected to be quite an armada of vehicles planned for the $100 million Warner Brothers backed film which will be constructed over the next year. The cast is currently completely up in the air, after Miller refuted previous reports of lead roles going to Sam Worthington and Charlize Theron. Filming will begin next summer in New South Wales, Australia.

[ABC News]

Not only is Detroit a great place to film a movie like Red Dawn 2 because they'll allow you to blow up downtown buildings without a care in the world, but also because folks in certain parts of the region will futilely shout the name of a certain non-indigenous-to-Michigan furry animal on a fall Saturday without any prodding whatsoever. Usually it's with the word "Go" attached to the front of it — but that can be fixed in post-production, right? Anyway, here's the shot of that Humvee we were talking about above.

We knew selling Hummer to the Chinese would lead to disaster — and us having to fend off the red menace with nothing but a Dodge Ram. There's a slew of other pics of filming in downtown Detroit here.

Anyone else take any shots? If so, drop 'em in the comments below.

We see Keitel behind the wheel of a '72 Imperial LeBaron and Proval piloting a '72 Dodge Coronet sedan… and the streets of Brooklyn don't have room for both cars!
Spoiler Alert! Don't watch this scene if you haven't already seen Mean Streets all the way through; it would be a shame to give away the ending of this all-time great Scorcese film to those who haven't yet experienced it.

We were there for the unveiling of the Black Beauty and learned that Seth Rogen, set to play the titular Green Hornet, was a fan of the site. We wish him the best in this endeavor and, of course, just assume it was Kato driving. Hopefully, this was just part of the filming and not an accident — though it looks fairly real to us. The vehicle seems to have nosed itself right into the CAA building in Century City. (Hat tip to James!) [Photos from JustJared.com]

[via JustJared.com]
[via JustJared.com]
[via JustJared.com]

Before we get to the interview, let's jump over to Mr. Cox's site and read what he has to say about the central theme of Repo Man:

Nuclear War. Of course. What else could it be about? And the demented society that contemplated the possibility thereof. Repoing people's cars and hating alien ideologies were only the tip of the iceberg. The iceberg itself was the maniac culture which had elected so-called "leaders" named Reagan and Thatcher, who were prepared to sacrifice everything — all life on earth — to a gamble based on the longevity of the Soviet military, and the whims of their corporate masters. J. Frank Parnell - the fictitious inventor of the Neutron Bomb - was the central character for me.

Yes, the Greatest Car Movie Of All Time wasn't even about cars! As a nuclear-war-obsessed 18-year-old gearhead equipped with a fleet of wretched hoopties rattling with Suicidal Tendencies and Stooges cassettes Repo Man was a Tzar Bomba dropped right into my skull. Lately, what with all the rumblings about Cox's recently-finished non-sequel, Repo Chick, I was inspired to email Mr. Cox and ask him the Repo Man car questions I've had for him all along. Even though he's swamped with Repo Chick-related work these days, he got back to me right away and was kind enough to provide detailed answers to my ranting, obsessive queries. Here we go:


MM: Let's get to the most obvious one first: why a '64 Chevelle Malibu sedan for J. Frank Parnell? One can easily imagine him coming home after a long day designing enhanced-radiation physics packages, easing the car into the garage attached to a wholesome Los Alamos ranch-style house, etc., and a Chevelle 4-door would have been just about right for a successful young bomb designer in the mid-to-late 1960s; unpretentious and practical, yet with a certain amount of sportiness not found in the lower-end Chevelle models. He's still driving it in the early 1980s (or he's just obtained it), and that must mean something. I've always imagined his family leaving him in '69 or so, as he proceeds with his downward spiral, with the house and car kept unchanged as a creepy shrine to happier suburban times, but some of my car-geek friends feel that J. Frank just stole the car at random (due to its easily hot-wired pre-steering-column-lock ignition) when he grabbed whatever the hell is in the car's trunk and fled New Mexico.

AC: I think you answered that one very well. I just liked the boxy aspect of the '64 Malibu: it seemed very sinister to me. What I didn't realise was how similar it was to the Impala, which the Repo Man drove. So maybe they are two sides of the same coin, too.

MM: Every time I watch Repo Man, I'm amazed by the excellent vehicular casting of the film, and the fact that most of the cars actually used in the film are as specified in the screenplay shows that vehicle selection was very important to you. How is it that an Englishman, living in Los Angeles for just a few years, could have developed such an eye for the nuances of American cars and their cultural overtones? Most Americans, even serious car freaks, would be at a total loss if they tried to do the same with British cars; you'd probably get 1979 London heroin kingpins driving Humber Sceptres, or worse. What was your crash course in American cars?

AC: I knew people who owned those cars. My motorcycle mechanic had the Malibu; our casting director drove the '73 Impala: we bought it from her for the film, then I drove it around for a couple of years until it passed away.

MM: That leads straight to the next one: What kind of car did you drive while shooting the film? For that matter, what did you drive while you were studying at UCLA?

AC: I wasn't a car person at that time. I had motorcycles: Hondas, old BMWs, and a 750 Norton Commando which was the coolest of them all, on the rare occasions when it ran.

My first four-wheeled vehicle was a Toyota pickup which I bought to transport the motorcycles when they broke down. Then came a beloved 68 Chevy Impala convertible (305 cu in) which I bought in Tucson Arizona and drove for many years until an actor borrowed it and wrecked it. For many years I had a 1986 Isuzu Trooper and my current, and I hope final, ride is a 96 Trooper. It is a fine vehicle as long as you don't drive at more than 70 or turn too many corners.

MM: The mirror-shade-wearing government agents drive AMC Matadors, at a time when most cop types would have had Ford LTDs and Chevy Caprices. The inept-yet-sinister effect comes through nicely with the off-brandedness of AMC products, but at the risk of overemphasizing the inept side. Were you influenced by the Matador driven by Stacy Keach's Sergeant Stedenko character in Cheech & Chong's Up In Smoke when you selected the Matador as the agents' car?

AC: No, I liked the Matador for its weird shape and for its name. But even it pales into insignificance beside the AMC Gremlin, perhaps the ugliest motor vehicle ever, prior to the Hummer at least.

MM: It's impossible to imagine Harry Dean in anything other than a '71 Impala sedan, of course, but did you consider other cars for the Bud character when getting vehicles for the production? If so, what cars?

AC: Wasn't it a '73? Anyway, it was always his ride.

MM: That Impala sure looks like a '71 to me (the '73 didn't have the turn-signal lights on the fender leading edges, and US government regulations mandated monstrous 5 MPH crash bumpers on '72 and later models, while the car in the movie has the pre-72 bumpers). Of course, the full-sized Chevrolets of that era were pretty much all the same under the skin, so it could have been a '73 that got wrecked and had '71 body parts bolted on; that way all the registration paperwork would have had "1973" all over it.

AC: I bet you're right about that Chevy. I never even looked at the paperwork, just thought of it as the '73'.

MM: How much thought did you put into choosing the cars that got repo'd during the film? Did you agonize over the cars with less screen time, such as the '78 Cutlass Salon Coupe ripped by Otto in his first-ever repo? Or were those cars selected more on the basis of what was easily available within budget?

AC: Those were based on what was hanging around the set. I think the Cutlass belonged to one of the Teamsters.

MM: I've had a nice PR lady from the Car-Freshner Corporation, maker of the "Little Tree" air fresheners, send me vast quantities of free trees to give away at races and so on, because of the exposure they got from my series of "you'll find one in every car" junykard-photography posts. Apparently the employees of Car-Freshner were totally unaware of their products' role in your film.

AC: Nonsense! They have forgotten now, or perhaps your contact wasn't there then, but Car-Freshner sent us a whole bunch of air fresheners WITHOUT the scent, which is too horrible for anyone, even an actor, to endure for long. This, plus the generic goods from Ralph's Supermarket, was the extent of product placement in the film.

The Esprit’s status in underwater history was cemented in the wonderful chase scene from The Spy Who Loved Me, where Roger Moore drives his Lotus into the water where it promptly turns into a submarine:

The NSX is known more for being fast. Very fast. If you need to not only beat the clock but beat even your expectations of beating the clock, look no further than Harvey Keitel’s stepping on the stage of Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, a movie only slightly younger than the 19-year-old NSX:

Nine minutes and thirty-seven seconds. But what if you’re not in sunny Southern California but in a region affected by torrential downpours, like the Western Ghats in India—or Orange Park, Florida? It turns out the NSX has another trick up its sleeve as you'll see from this video:

There are cars whose whiny sound would benefit from the addition of Al Pacino’s booming baritone to their exhaust note. The Porsche 928 is definitely not one of them. Powered by a 5-liter V8, it’s got boom aplenty with a classic grand tourer shape to match it. Still, the 928 is one of the cars which appeared in Scarface and if you’re selling an example in these derelict economic times, you might as well make note of the celebrity connection. Especially here in New York City.

The car is parked mere yards from Jalopnik’s New York City headquarters and there is only one thing wrong with it: the seller is called Toby as opposed to Tony. Otherwise, it appears to be a fine cruiser.

If you do purchase it, try and not make much of its less than spectral motion picture history as an accessory to score with women: the 928 is the car Al Pacino’s character Tony Montana purchased to impress Elvira Hancock, played by Michelle Pfeiffer—to no avail.

I sincerely hope the American flag draped over the luggage area comes with the car.

If you want a more high-res experience, hit the trailer homepage at the fruit.

And, of course, that got me to thinking: what about all the other cars driven by movie bad guys? We've seen some excellent bad-guy movie cars over the years, and today I'm honoring fifteen of them. Those of you who were outraged by what I missed in the last list (yeah, I got all your venomous emails about the exclusion of Vanishing Point Challenger- a movie car I love dearly, believe it or not- last time around), prepare for further jaw-droppingly egregious omissions!

Here we go, in no particular order of preference, the Jalopnik Sinister Fifteen Movie Cars! Thanks to the Internet Movie Car Database for most of these images.

Bill Duke's 1990 Chevrolet Caprice
Payback, 1999. Crazy Mel Gibson has been in quite a few good car movies, in between drinking shots of holy water and shaking his fist at the Vatican, and this minor neo-noir masterpiece has plenty of Jalopnik-Grade™ rides. For corrupt cops, you just can't beat the good ol' Caprice.
Albert Popwell's 1973 Cadillac Eldorado
Magnum Force, 1973. After Popwell's character Drāno-izes a ho who holds out on his money (this execution method inspires the line "That shows a certain sense of style" from Clint Eastwood), he meets his doom in this gorgeous pimpmobile at the hands of vigilante motorcycle cops.
Bob Skokes' 1968 Chevrolet El Camino
Suburbia, 1984. I totally spaced on the punked-out Ford LTD from this classic film in my last list, but the El Camino driven by the bitter dog-slaughtering laid-off autoworkers can make this one!
Paul Newman's 1958 Cadillac Sixty-Two Convertible
Hud, 1963. Newman's character of Texas rancher's son Hud Bannon stands as one of the meanest amoral bastids in motion picture history, and his (pink, according to the dialogue in this black-and-white film) '58 Cadillac suits that character perfectly, given the landscape of pickup-drivin' good country people.
Conrad Veidt's 1926 Mercedes-Benz Modell K
Casablanca, 1942. Nazis in movies are always sinister and/or evil (unless you're Leni Riefenstahl), and there's only one vehicular choice for them in Vichy-governed Morocco: Mercedes-Benz!
Lord Humungus Motor Pool 1973 Chrysler Valiant VH
The Road Warrior, 1984. With all the outstanding baddiemobiles in this movie, how do you choose one car? In the end, the quad-pneumatic-arrow-gun turret gave this Valiant the edge.
Drive-By Shooters' 1986 Hyundai Excel
Boys N The Hood, 1991. It's hard to imagine an '86 Excel even running, much less holding together long enough to facilitate a drive-by, but sometimes the cinema viewer needs to break out the ol' suspension-of-disbelief thing.
Emmett Walsh's 1966 Volkswagen Beetle
Blood Simple, 1985. I can't make any movie list without something from Los Hermanos Coen, and it's hard to come up with an ickier bad guy than the unnamed VW-driving detective in their first film.
Dennis Hopper's 1968 Dodge Charger
Blue Velvet, 1986. It's hard to imagine a scarier bad guy than Hopper's Frank Booth, who huffs from a mysterious can of compressed gas, beats women, and hits the road in a completely evil beater Charger.
Emile Meyer's 1956 Ford Fairlane
Sweet Smell Of Success, 1957. This incredibly dark movie- which pretty much bombed when released, but is now regarded as one of the all-time greats- wouldn't have been complete without the corrupt Fairlane-driving cop doing dirty work for the Walter Winchell-based Burt Lancaster character.
Larry J. Blake's 1948 DeSoto Custom
Sunset Boulevard, 1950. What do the burly and ominous repo men coming after William Holden's Plymouth drive, as they attempt to de-wheel (and maybe de-kneecap) him in the City Where Only A Nobody Walks? Yessir, a stolid DeSoto.
Ann Blyth's 1942 Pontac DeLuxe
Mildred Pierce, 1945. Dan Savage says it's the greatest film ever made, and he may be onto something. Based on a novel by master crime writer James M. Cain, this film features a sporty little Pontiac convertible driven by the thoroughly evil- yet utterly shallow- character of Veda Pierce.
David Patrick Kelly's 1955 Cadillac Hearse
The Warriors, 1979. The gang costumes alone make The Warriors worth watching, but the supremely evil '55 Caddy hearse driven by the Rogues vaults it into all-time Bad Guy Movie Car greatness. "War-ri-yers… come out to play-ee-yay!"
Robert Mitchum's Model T Ford
Night Of The Hunter, 1955. I really wanted to use a car driven by Mitchum in Cape Fear, because his character in that film is so terrifying as to make De Niro's version in the Scorcese remake seem like Mr. Rogers by comparison, but Max Cady takes the Shoe Leather Express instead of getting wheels. No problem, though, because Mitchum's character in Charles Laughton's directorial masterpiece is damn near as menacing (and even slimier), and he does drive.
Robin Williams' 2002 Toyota Echo
One Hour Photo, 2002. Williams' creepy, obsessive character managed to purge all the happy from the image of the cute lil' Echo.

Jeffries isn't quite the showman and self-promoter that some of his car-customizing peers of the era were, so his contribution to the canon of amazing machinery to come out of postwar Southern California doesn't always get the recognition it deserves. In addition to building the Monkeemobile, Damnation Alley Landmaster, and the Green Hornet Black Beauty Imperial, Jeffries painted the first-ever AC Cobra and did the striping and lettering on huge quantities of Indy 500 racers… and that's just scratching the surface.

One of the first things we learn about Jeffries is the type of car that got him started: a late-30s Horch sedan! He was in the Army in the early 1950s, stationed in Germany, and acquired this Teutonic proto-Audi monster for road trips around Western Europe. Once he'd installed straight pipes on it, he learned to paint stripes from an old German furniture maker (a story reminiscent of Jimmy Bryant picking up guitar tips from Django Reinhardt while in a French military hospital during the war).

This is a coffee-table book full of pretty photographs of greasy LA boys putting together works of art that today's ironic hipsters will spend their entires lives attempting to emulate, but author Tom Cotter went ahead and wrote a proper biography of Jeffries for those eggheaded types who actually, like, read words. Cotter, as 24 Hours Of LeMons insiders know, is the author of The Hemi In The Barn, the book the LeMons Supreme Court uses for the "Preach To The Converted" penalty; miscreants must read aloud the account of a racing Pinto rescued from oblivion, and they must do it with passion.

The Mantaray and Monkeemobile get plenty of coverage- in part thanks to Jeffries' diligence with a camera, documenting his projects as he went along- but I'd have preferred to get more of the dirt on the feud between Jeffries and former employer George Barris (involving credit for the design of the Monkeemobile, among other things). That's just me, though; those who don't hunger so much for sinuendo will be perfectly satisfied.

I'm giving this one a Jalopnik Three Rod rating. Murilee says check it out!
[Motorbooks]

You might notice that there's no Vanishing Point Challenger, no Two Lane Blacktop '55 Chevy or GTO, no Road Warrior Falcon, no French Connection Pontiac LeMans, and so on; you can go anywhere to find those admittedly deserving machines in a Top Movie Cars list… but you're in for something a little different when your Rambler clanks into my drive-in!

Fee Waybill's 1968 Plymouth Sport Satellite
Ladies And Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains, 1981. Just look at this evil '68 Satellite, driven by the character played by Tubes mastermind Fee Waybill in the nearly-forgotten punk classic starring Diane Lane.
Stacey Keach's 1972 AMC Matador
Up In Smoke, 1978. Some folks might try to tell you that Cheech's '64 Impala is the automotive star of this all-time Malaise Era classic, but those same guys will sell you a bag of "Acapulco Gold" that turns out to be oregano. Sergeant Stedenko's unmarked Kenosha sedan, take a bow!
Isaac Hayes' Cadillac Fleetwood
Escape From New York, 1981. An apocalyptic Caddy with chandeliers on the fenders, in jail, being driven across a mine-studded bridge by Isaac Hayes? Why the hell didn't Cadillac issue a chandelier-equipped Escape From New York Edition Cadillac?
Barbara Stanwyck's 1937 LaSalle
Double Indemnity, 1944. It's taking all my willpower to avoid stacking this list with nothing but film noir cars- for example, the cop '49 Ford stalking Sterling Hayden in the opening sequence of Asphalt Jungle- but there's no way we can neglect this LaSalle, which features in the greatest post-murder-victim-body-dump 'car won't start' sequence in cinema history.
Robert Mitchum's 1950 Ford
Thunder Road, 1958. That ol' dope-smoking Bob Mitchum won't let the '57 Chevy-drivin' revenoors catch his triple-carbed Ford, no way! You'll get some nice closeup shots of the triple-carbed overhead-valve Ford V8 in this excellent car movie.
All 250 Vehicles In The Final Sequence Of Used Cars
Used Cars, 1980. The greatest Malaise Era movie of all time! You'll see everything from an early Bronco to a Fiat 128 burning rubber in the final ten minutes of this Kurt Russell classic.
Mel Gibson's 1994 Chevrolet Caprice
Conspiracy Theory, 1997. A movie in which Crazy Mel delivers the line "It's time someone lifted the festering scab that is the Vatican" is already starting off on the right foot, but his awesomely evil Caprice cab sets a new standard for scary movie taxis.
Harvey Keitel's 1972 Imperial LeBaron
Mean Streets, 1973. What do low-level mob associates drive in Early Malaise New York City? Exactly. Spoiler: this car doesn't get a happy ending.
Reese Witherspoon's 1967 Dodge Coronet Wagon
Freeway, 1996. This movie features cynicism galore, a nightmarish Danny Elfman soundtrack, Brooke Shields sticking a gun in her mouth and pulling the trigger… and this beautifully wretched Coronet wagon, the crapping out of which starts Witherspoon's character on her Red Riding Hood-esque adventures. Murilee says check it out!
Bette Davis' 1947 Lincoln
What Ever Happened To Baby Jane, 1962. Yeah, so I like my movies dark and cynical- you got a problem with that? Davis' character, Baby Jane Hudson, uses this reminder-of-past-glory luxury machine to haul her crippled sister to her death on the Santa Monica beach.
Ronald Reagan's 1959 Ford
The Killers, 1964. Man, imagine having an actor become governor of California! Watching The Great Communicator- in this case, playing a criminal mastermind plotting a mail-truck heist- hoon this gigantic boxy Ford down a dirt road while wearing the same exact suit he wore as President… well, I'm shopping for '59 Fords now!
Dick Rude's 1976 Toyota Corolla
Repo Man, 1984. I'm going to go on record stating that Repo Man is the Greatest Car Movie Of All Time, and that choosing one car to honor in this list was quite difficult. I've read the screenplay many times, and it's telling that Alex Cox specified the exact year, make, and model of every car to be used in the film (and, in most cases, those are the cars that were used during the production). The red Eldorado? The Government Agents' Matador? The Malibu? I'm going to give the honor to the "get sushi and not pay" gang's very punk Toyota… and that reminds me that I've committed a grievous mistake by omitting the Torino from Suburbia in this list. Well, next one!
John Lurie's 1965 Dodge Coronet 440
Stranger Than Paradise, 1984. What's the best possible car for a pair of small-time gamblers to drive from New York to Cleveland to Florida during the winter in 1984? Jim Jarmusch knows!
Rodney Dangerfield's 1966 Mulliner Park Ward Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III
Caddyshack, 1980. What car best epitomizes bad taste and conspicuous consumption, Middle Malaise Era style? Sure, a Zimmer might have worked just as well, but a Mulliner Park Ward Silver Cloud is just as horrifying and ten times as expensive!
Matt Dillon's 1965 Cadillac Fleetwood
Drugstore Cowboy, 1990. When you're ripping off drugstores for that good pharmaceutical-grade junk during the Nixon Era in the Pacific Northwest, there's no better ride.
Billy Bob Thornton's 1940 Dodge Coupe
The Man Who Wasn't There, 2001. Of all the Coen Brothers' films- which show excellent taste in vehicular selection- I settled on this one as my favorite. Tough choice, and I almost went with the '85 Cutlass Ciera in Fargo, or the detective's Beetle in Blood Simple.
Roger Sloman's Morris Minor 1000 Convertible
Nuts In May, 1976. This annoying little car is so perfectly suited to Sloman's fingernails-on-chalkboard character that it's impossible to imagine him driving anything else.
Gloria Swanson's Isotta-Fraschini
Sunset Boulevard, 1950. Wicker bodywork. Leopard skin upholstery. 800 feet total length. Best of all, a golden telephone to speak to the driver!
Burt Reynolds' 1972 Citroën SM
The Longest Yard, 1974. A drunk-driven SM being chased by Malaise Era Mopars, with Burt Reynolds at the wheel and Lynyrd Skynyrd on the radio. Enough said!
Ömer Simsek's Opel Manta
Manta, Manta, 1991. As any longtime Jalopnik reader knows, we have a sick love for the Opel Manta, otherwise known as "the German Camaro." Here's one of the many, many gorgeous Mantas from the German film Manta, Manta.
Image source: Automobilsport

That's correct. While Seth Rogen, who'll star in next year's movie, didn't have time to answer any questions for us, he did have time to let us know he's an avid reader of Jalopnik. He also called one of us "Jalopnik Ray," claiming he recognized us. It must have been that Colbert Report thing. Whatever it was we're hoping it'll give us the inside line on driving this here "Black Beauty" unveiled late last night here in San Diego on the Comic Con show floor.

Full release below in the gallery.

Chevrolet announces the 2010 Camaro TRANSFORMERS Special Edition

DETROIT - Fans of the new Camaro and the blockbuster TRANSFORMERS movies can now combine their love of the car and the films with the Chevrolet Camaro TRANSFORMERS Special Edition announced today at Comic-Con in San Diego.

"When the first TRANSFORMERS movie was setting box office records, we had countless customers asking to purchase the 'BUMBLEBEE' Camaro," said Karen Rafferty, product marketing director, Chevrolet. "Now, they can buy one with the new Camaro TRANSFORMERS Special Edition. Streets all over North America will be buzzing in no time."

Features such as an EPA-rated 29 highway mpg on the V6-powered Camaro, Bluetooth phone connectivity, USB connectivity, XM Satellite Radio and OnStar combined with TRANSFORMERS design cues add to the car's status as a 21st century sports car.

"Hasbro is thrilled to team up with Chevrolet and excited to see the Camaro TRANSFORMERS Special Edition come to market for our fans to enjoy," said Samantha Lomow, Global Brand Leader for TRANSFORMERS at Hasbro. "The yellow Camaro with the black stripes has become so iconic and closely associated with the BUMBLEBEE character that this edition was a natural fit for both companies."

While the aggressive styling of the Camaro is unmistakable, true TRANSFORMERS fans will notice some of the unique, but subtle features of the Camaro TRANSFORMERS Special Edition.

The 2010 Chevrolet Camaro TRANSFORMERS Special Edition includes the following:

* AUTOBOT® shield on the driver and passenger side panels
* AUTOBOT® shield on each of the four wheel's center cap
* AUTOBOT® shield embroidered on interior center console
* "TRANSFORMERS" logo on driver and passenger doors' sill plates
* "TRANSFORMERS" logo embedded into the hood rally stripes
* High-gloss black center rally stripe package
* Manufacturer's suggested retail price of package: $995

Dealers are now taking orders for this car. Customers can order the TRANSFORMERS Special Edition as either a Rally Yellow LT or SS model. The optional RS appearance package can also be added.

The V6-powered Camaro uses a 3.6L engine with variable valve timing to optimize performance and fuel economy. It is SAE-certified at 304 horsepower (227 kW) and 273 lb.-ft. of torque (370 Nm). A six-speed manual transmission is standard with the 3.6L engine; a Hydra-Matic 6L50 electronically controlled six-speed automatic, with TAPshift control, is available.

The high-performance Camaro SS is equipped with a powerful 6.2L V-8, with a choice of a six-speed manual or six-speed automatic transmission. Manual transmission-equipped models receive the LS3 engine, SAE-certified at 426 horsepower (318 kW) and 420 lb.-ft. of torque (569 Nm). It is paired with a TR6060 six-speed transmission.

A new, L99 V-8 engine is used on automatic transmission-equipped SS models. It is based on the LS3, but also includes GM's fuel-saving Active Fuel Management feature. It is SAE-certified at 400 horsepower (298 kW) and 410 lb.-ft. of torque (556 Nm). It is matched with a Hydra-Matic 6L80 six-speed transmission that helps delivers an EPA-estimated 25 mpg on the highway.

About Chevrolet
Chevrolet is one of America's best-known and best-selling automotive brands, and one of the fastest growing brands in the world. With fuel solutions that go from "gas-friendly to gas-free," Chevy has nine models that get 30 miles per gallon or more on the highway, and offers three hybrid models. More than 2.5 million Chevrolets that run on E85 biofuel have been sold. Next year, Chevrolet will offer the Chevy Volt, an extended range electric vehicle that will travel up to 40 miles without using any gas at all. Chevy delivers expressive design, spirited performance and provides the best value in every segment in which it competes. More information on Chevrolet can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

About HASBRO
Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE:HAS) is a worldwide leader in children's and family leisure time products and services with a rich portfolio of brands and entertainment properties that provides some of the highest quality and most recognizable play and recreational experiences in the world. As a brand-driven, consumer-focused global company, Hasbro brings to market a range of toys, games and licensed products, from traditional to high-tech and digital, under such powerful brand names as TRANSFORMERS, PLAYSKOOL, TONKA, MILTON BRADLEY, PARKER BROTHERS, CRANIUM and WIZARDS OF THE COAST. Come see how we inspire play through our brands at http://www.hasbro.com. © 2009 Hasbro, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Photo source: Tinypic, Yahoo, Huffpo

Making an entrance like only a faux gay Austrian fashionista can.

Chrome Mercedes SLR's? Those are so last year.

Believe it or not, Cohen is in this picture.

Over the weekend a group of Shanghainese got together to celebrate a visit by one of their Transformers idols, the Bumblebee-esque 2010 Camaro SS. To show their support, they've taken their yellow-painted cars and rally striped the hell out of them for a coordinated parade lap around the city. [via ChinaCarTimes]

The RSV 1000 R made a cameo in the first film, performing the very uncharacteristic two-wheeled stunt of sliding on it's side, allowing its rider to shoot Decepticons in the crotchal area to a very unexpected-in-anything-but-a-Michael-Bay-movie result. Expect something similar in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. We just hope Shia doesn't pretend like he knows how to ride it.

The press release follows:

Aprilia USA Brought Hollywood to Road Racing with Blockbuster Debut

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen inspired Aprilia race bike unveiled
during action-packed Road America weekend

NEW YORK, NY – June 6, 2009 – Aprilia USA added a special dose of Hollywood
blockbuster excitement to the AMA Pro Daytona SportBike series when it
unveiled a one-of-a-kind Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen inspired race
bike today. This special stealth edition of an Aprilia RSV 1000 Factory
competition machine made its debut during Round 6 of the road racing series
at Road America in Elkhart Lake, WI.

The aggressively styled Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Aprilia bike
revved up excitement for the June 24 opening of one of this year's most
anticipated movies among an estimated audience of over 70,000 race fans.

Enthusiasts had plenty of chances to see the bike up close, on the track,
online and will be able to watch it during a future segment of AMA Pro Prime
Time on SpeedTV. Following its Paddock debut, KWS Factory Aprilia Millenium
Technologies rider Ben Thompson (97) took the bike to the starting grid
twice. Race 1 of the Daytona SportBike was at 4 p.m., Saturday, June 6 and
Race 2 begins at 2 p.m. on Sunday, June 7. In addition to his exclusive
ride, Thompson waged an equally ferocious helmet, whose design matches the
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen theme.

In addition, Aprilia hosted an exclusive Midwest unveiling of the
revolutionary 2010 RSV 4 Factory streetbike. Expected to transform the
production superbike category with its unique blend of brutal power, Italian
style and technical innovation, this was the very first Midwest appearance
of the Aprilia RSV 4. It is the only RSV 4 currently on U.S. soil.

Aprilia and superbike fans also had the chance to test the latest
motorcycles from the Italian manufacturer by partaking in the Aprilia
Adventure: Road America. For riders who want to experience the adrenaline
rush of Aprilia motorcycles, the Aprilia Adventure is the antidote to the
traditional short demo ride. Instead of a few minutes riding through
traffic, enthusiasts had plenty of time to fully appreciate the real
capabilities of the bikes. Along the way, participants also enjoyed
hospitality, refreshments and an Aprilia gift bag. The Aprilia Adventure
was open to licensed riders with proper riding gear for $20.00 per person.

Although, to get the 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California included will cost you just a little bit more than that. Still, it's a nice piece of movie history available for anyone with the money to spare and a desire to live in Highland Park, Illinois. Check it out here — it's hard to wonder why it's still for sale! [via Today Show]

Years before Jason Statham channeled his Shakespearian training for the lead role in the remake, David Carradine walked off the set of the hit TV show Kung Fu and dropped into the driver's seat of Death Race 2000. He portrayed, with great pathos, the stitched-together anti-hero, and death race driving champion, Frankenstein, whose chief rival was the snarling Machine Gun Joe Viterbo (Loved by thousands, hated by millions!), better known to most of us as Sylvester Stallone. The Roger Corman-produced film was a cult hit, and got plenty of press for its unflinching depiction of sadistic violence, copious quantities of ketchup-based blood, and cornball dialog. It was sort of Gumball Rally meets Deathproof, with a little bit of 8mm home-made snuff film thrown in for good measure.

Much like its leather gimp-masked driver, this tribute to the movie prop car is an amalgamation of bits and pieces borrowed from other cars. Underneath all the slick, Hollywood makeup, it's a VW-powered, fiberglass kit car with a whole lotta' Corvette goin' on. This isn't the vehicle to be cruising Black Angus in, looking to score. That 1300cc VW sewing machine motor doesn't have enough poop to scatter pigeons, much less impress anybody with jaw-dropped feats of pedestrian-catapulting prowess. But if you're looking to get lucky with someone for whom Death Race 2000 is the catalyst for getting their freak on (and let's be honest- you know who they are), this may be your ride.

In case you wanted to see the original in action:

So, for ten grand do you want to give this car two thumbs up? Or does that price make you want to wait for the DVD?

You decide!

Cars.com, or go here if the ad closes after one weekend.

Thanks to Goes like stink! for the tip!

While watching a dead ringer for Lee Iacocca become, well, exactly that, may have been a bit disconcerting for many auto-obsessed fan-boys, but it wasn't the only automotive hat-tip in Watchmen. Frankly, the entire movie revolves around a need to get the world out of an energy crisis — moving citizens of the world from gas-gulpin' autos to 'lectric cars. But it's not just the movie with a plot-line centered on cars being evil, the graphic novel it's based on did as well.

Without getting too much into the nitty-gritty, let's get a quick recap of the auto-related plotline of the Watchmen graphic novel by way of our friends at Hemmings:

the graphic novel takes place in an alternate 1985, where Dr. Manhattan's very existence has changed several things. Nixon's still president, we triumphed over the Communists in Vietnam, and electric cars have become commonplace. Apparently, Gibbons envisioned electric cars all as jellybean-like pods that recharge at fire hydrant-like roadside plugs."

While the movie version wasn't quite as electric as the original, the world of Watchmen (the movie) still has a plot line revolving around Dr. Manhattan's alternative fuel. But, instead of electric cars being the present (of Watchmen 1985), they are the future, unveiled at the end of the movie — as a savior to the "energy crisis" of the movie plot-line.

Additionally, one of the (many) secondary plot-lines of the graphic novel revolves around the "Dr. Manhattan-produced" electric cars and Hollis Mason, the original Nite Owl. Mason retires in the graphic novel because Dr. Manhattan's blue phallic strength makes costumed vigilantes totally unnecessary. Mason decides to go work as an auto mechanic, telling Dr. Manhattan even he can't put GM out of business. Ha. Silly Mason, little do you realize that in reality Dr. Manhattan doesn't need to exist to put GM out of business. Society found a way to do that all on their own. But we digress. In the comic book reality, Dr. Manhattan explains he already has put him out of business with his electric cars. Mason then becomes dejected and ends his life alone, beaten to death by street punks.

So what can we take away from the dual Watchmen realities? Well, for starters, it's really sad seeing Lee Iacocca gunned down. Secondly, Hollywood still views cars as evil things. Like Mason, our love of cars will probably end up leading to a life of sadness.

We wouldn't have it any other way.

Despite the company's overwhelming presence in the film, including a Chevy Beat or Chevy Spark or whatever, Camaro and a Corvette Stingray Concept, the company has decided not to buy a large amount, if any, commercial time with advertisements connecting their products to the movie. Especially as the movie is essentially one long GM commercial. There are two main factors at work here:

1.) GM's slashing its marketing budget by $800 million in 2009. There simply isn't the same pool of marketing dollars the company had back in 2007, when the original Transformers launched.

2.) GM is predictably gun-shy after plane-gate and the Citibank/Mets deal left many wondering if the new Mets Stadium should be called "Taxpayer Field" while the company takes a bailout.

This move reduces the impact Chevy might get out of the launch of the 2010 Chevy Camaro and may increase the burden on Paramount to fork over dollars to support their expensive blockbuster. Maybe Optimus Prime or a strategic use of web advertisement can save them. It'd certainly save us. Optimus Prime that is. We love a long-nosed semi, what can we say.

[via Ad Age]

The website is put together as a faux corporate page for Skynet Research, or at least what the corporate homepage would have looked like before Judgement Day. It's pretty standard fare, "Who we are," "Products," "Testimonials," "Outreach," and "Communications" all narrated by a detached generic female voice. Click through into products though and you can see the embryonic elements of humanities destruction, including this bad boy: the Skynet Research Autonomous Mass Transit Bot. Warner Brothers Skynet Research describes this tracked transit bot in the following way:

Description:
Safety comes first and foremost with the Skynet line of transport. Our line of robotic people movers features the latest in both GPS navigation and terrain mapping to aid in the first true ‘program and forget' product for transportation. Independent evolvable ‘Transpo-Al'™ translates into smooth operation and easy large-scale integration into complex systems.
Specifications:
Two parallel base segmented grinder class tracks; X08 Model Chassis with additional multi-valve Cylinder Scope; Hybrid Alloy central mechanism Processing Coolant; Self-charging Ion Combustible Power Cell; Driverless correction enabled Transpo-Al™ Navigation Core Index; Full Spectrum Sensor Module; Dual Insulated Human Containment Vessel Frame

This means it's perfect for transporting meaty experiment subjects from the field to testing facilities. Notice how it's got a set-it-and-forget-it GPS feature, that can only mean one thing, BMW is going to become Skynet. Watch for further "viral" marketing to come out of this website as the source code is chock-full of easter eggs which currently lead to nowhere. [Skynet Research (Warner Bros)]