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.

Click "next" to get the low-down on the five-oh in the 9C1s

Movie: Nothing To Lose
Year: 1997
Type: 1990 Chevrolet Caprice 9C1
Role: Oh man, Martin Lawrence movies. This is a classic 9C1 done up in a fake highway patrol livery. Given the movie is supposed to be contemporaneous in 1996 it's a little questionable that this vehicle would still be in service in this great condition, though we've seen local sheriffs drive in older cars.

Movie: The Bone Collector
Year: 1999
Type: 1992 Chevrolet Caprice SSV K-9 Unit
Role: Carrying police officers and K9 unit to the scene of the crime. We love wagons, and the SSV wagons were popular with police forces for non-patrol units such as K9 (seen here), special investigations, and special traffic duty.

Credit: IMCDB.org

Movie: Groundhog Day
Year: 1993
Type: 1980 Chevrolet Caprice 9C1
Role: The police chief uses it to chase down a suicidal Billy Murray/Groundhog combination. This is once again another example of older Caprices being limited to small town duty. There's something iconic

Credit: IMCDB.org

Movie: 2 Fast 2 Furious
Year: 2003
Type: 1995 Chevrolet Caprice 9C1
Role: Chasing those 2 bad 2 be stopped guys, the 9C1 typically manages to keep up with even the most hopped-up rides in films. Because this is a 1995, we assume it has LT1 V8 power and thus is able to blow the doors off your average Honda Civic.

Credit: IMCDB.org

Movie: The Matrix Reloaded
Year: 2003
Type: 1995 Chevrolet Caprice 9C1
Role: Attempting to kill Neo. There were so many GM vehicles in this movie you knew you weren't going to see a Crown Vic. There's also something decidedly more sinister about the 9C1.

Credit: IMCDB.org

Movie: Bad Boys II
Year: 2003
Type: 1994 Chevrolet Caprice 9C1
Role: Getting smashed up as the bad guys, not to be confused with the bad boys, who are tossing cars off a transporter! May God help you if you're a police officer in a Michael Bay film because he has a penchant for crushing Caprices.

Credit: IMCDB.org

Movie: Beavis and Butt-Head Do America
Year: 1996
Type: 1993 (we think) Chevrolet Caprice 9C1
Role: Why do we love Mike Judge? The intricacy of the animation and the attention to detail. When Hank Hill moved up from a Ranger to an F-Series Super Duty we all noticed. And we noticed when the cops in the standoff had Caprices.

Credit: IMCDB.org

Movie: Tommy Boy
Year: 1995
Type: 1993 Chevrolet Caprice 9C1
Role: "Bees! Bees! Bees in the car! Bees everywhere! God, they're huge! They're ripping my flesh off! Run away, your firearms are useless against them!"

Credit: IMCDB.org

Movie: No Country For Old Men
Year: 2007
Type: 1990 Chevrolet Caprice
Role: One of the few films we feature using a Caprice during the early 1990s, the lighting package is ideal for a county police department in middle-of-nowhere Texas. Oh man, you don't want to know how this ends.

Credit: IMCDB.org

Movie: Black Sheep
Year: 1996
Type: 1987 Chevrolet Caprice 9C1
Role: "Well, I got a 426 hemi here, 3/4 cams, nitro boosters, I can get 'er up to as good as 155! Never do, though, of course, unless I'm chasing a cute chick in a Ferrari! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I guess I was goin' about... 65, tops." Of course, it's unlikely there is HEMI under there given it's a GM product, but who knows. Chris Farley is crazy.

Credit: IMCDB.org

Celebrity: David Hasselhoff and Gary Coleman
Car: K.I.T.T.
Why So Embarrassing: It's the creepy thumbs up that makes this picture awesome to everyone not in it.
Suggested By: F1Morgan, Scandanavian Flick

Celebrity: 50 Cent
Car: Pontiac G8 GXP
Why So Embarrassing: Though we love the car, it doesn't particularly do it any good to get tarted up by 50 Cent on what seems to be the down-slope of his career. We bet Kanye could have sold more G8s.
Suggested By: BuickBoy92

Celebrity: Tim Allen, Martin Lawrence, John Travolta, William H. Macy
Car: Harley Davidson Bikes
Why So Embarrassing: The four of them look like a gay biker gang, but not in the good way. We do give them props for their realistic portrayal of the typical lame Harley owner in this shot from the film Wild Hogs.
Suggested By: Golferal

Celebrity: Michael Johnson
Car: C4 Corvette
Why So Embarrassing: Oh so 1990s. You may be fast, but you'll never outrun this Glamour Shot.
Photo Credit: Mike Powell /Allsport

Celebrity: Mila Kunis
Car: Lexus SC430
Why So Embarrassing: We're not big fans of the Lexus SC430, but it's not particularly embarrassing. Parking it in a handicapped spot to grab a coffee is.

Celebrity: Michael Phelps
Car: Mazda6/Atenza
Why So Embarrassing: Immediately following his pot bust/gold medal marathon Phelps was tasked with pushing the Mazda brand in China. We'd probably start using drugs as well.

Celebrity: Andre Agassi
Car: Vector W8
Why So Embarrassing: Posing near a Vector W8 is only cool in a semi-ironic sort of way. In this case, Agassi is trying to show off all he has: big hair, awkward car, soon-to-be-ex girlfriend.

Photo Credit: John Russell/Getty Images

Celebrity: Danica Patrick
Car: Chevrolet Bel Air
Why So Embarrassing: Danica Patrick is talented, but she also understands the connection between her sex appeal and her ability to get sponsors. Unfortunately, this photo is just awkward. It's supposed to be enticing and seductive but the strange outfit and uncomfortable look makes us wish we'd never seen this photo.
Suggested By: PowerMatic

Photo Credit: FHM/George Holz/JEGPhoto

Celebrity: Adam West
Car: Chrysler 300C
Why So Embarrassing: Adam West, Batman, drives an old man car. Whatever, he's hilarious. He gets away with it. What he doesn't get away with is the "NBR1BAT" license plate. Holy Vanity Plate Batman!
Suggested By: 57sweptside

Celebrity: Conan O'Brien
Car: Ford Taurus SHO
Why So Embarrassing: Yes, Conan O'Brien is trying to look ridiculous. Yes, we love the Ford Taurus SHO. This is embarrassing for Conan because his attempts at appearing silly fail. You look awesome Conan.
Suggested By: Nerdwa

Celebrity: Sting
Car: Toyota Prius
Why So Embarrassing: Really, the guy who wrote Outlandos d'Amour is suddenly out cruising town in a Prius. We thought tantric sex was about extending the pleasure. Hybrids cut it way short, Gordy.
Suggested By: JamesMarino

Celebrity: Michael Schumacher
Car: Fiat Work Van
Why So Embarrassing: Schumacher looks the part too well. Also, "the quick gardner" sounds like a bad German translation of a man who fires quickly in bed.
Suggested By: Mr_Sives_Remotoc.

[CelebrityCarsBlog]

1) Fast & Furious — $72.5 million
Good lord. You people really wanted to see this damn movie. It's the biggest April opening ever, the biggest ever for Universal, and the biggest ever opening for a movie about four tired old people who thought they'd have better jobs in ten years so they didn't do the first sequel but here we go, what the fuck, no one's banging down our doors, so we'll do the third sequel. So there's celebrating in Hollywood today, and somewhere some dumpy stoner in Silver Lake has just created a Word document ominously titled "Fast and Five-ious."

2) Monsters vs. Aliens — $33.5 million
Down 44% from its boffo debut last weekend, this is yet another computer animated 3D kids thing that just tramps along mercilessly, leaving destruction and Sour Patch Kid-mouth burns in its sugary wake. It's gobbled up a total of $105 million in its first two weeks of release, making it the fastest movie about Reese Witherspoon being a gigantic nuisance to reach the $100 million mark since Sweet Home Alabama came whiskey-farting out of the gate back in 1989.

3) & 4) The Haunting in Connecticut, Knowing — $9.6, $8.1 million
Two schlocky genre pictures that are holding on decently, if not terrifically. Knowing has lured in some $58 million in ticket sales in three weeks, and is proving a moderate success for fledgling schlock purveyor, Summit Entertainment. Connecticut is just further proof that people like cheaply-made ghosties, especially if they come belching out of teenage boys' mouths while creepy sepia-toned old people look on in muted delight. So what does this mean? Put Nic Cage in one of those damn horror movies and you can just start printing money. If he drives a crazy muscle car, too, just imagine.

6) Adventureland — $6 million
Though the film had mostly positive reviews, Greg Mottola's nostalgic look at youth didn't connect at the box office. It was in sixth place and earned only six million dough-lars, so maybe there's a third six out there.... Oh! It stars six people: Martin Starr, Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Swan, Ryan Reynolds, Kristen Wiig, and Bill Hader. Six. Six. Six. Who knew a sweet movie about growing up lost and confused in the leafy but barren Pittsburgh suburbs of the 1980's could be the work of the Morning Star. Someone get Nic Cage on the case, fastly and furiously!

10) Sunshine Cleaning — $1.9 million
Chugging along with a nice $3,900 per-screen average, this little quirk fest is doing decent indie business. It probably won't become a smash and open super wide like its obvious inspiration, Little Miss Sunshine, but it might rack up a nice little bundle nonetheless. Hopefully it'll keep Emily Blunt's bright shiny star on the rise, because she's just really really good in pretty much everything.

Fox hired a group of consultants to measure how much carbon-dioxide is released from the production of the television show, including the spectacular car chases and crashes, so they can buy offsets. They're also using B20 biodiesel fuel in trucks and generators and paying more for wind and solar power. How much does 12 hours of 24 release? Approximately 1,291 tons of carbon-dioxide.

Though the message won't be a large part of the actual show, we like the idea of Jack Bauer torturing someone in an environmentally friendly way like, maybe, making someone listen to the An Inconvenient Truth soundtrack repeatedly.

[Photo: Fox, via NYTimes]

This weekend was a cold one here in the Midwest so instead of going out and braving the weather we decided to hibernate instead, but not before heading out to our local cult video store and grabbing a couple of our all-time favorite classic movies. We got a couple of goodies including: Le Mans, The Great Escape and couple of our significant other's favorite Agatha Christie mystery TV episodes featuring the quirky detective, Hercule Poirot.

After watching a couple of these films we got to thinking about what some of these famous actors would be like if they were celebrities in today's day and age. We contemplated this for a while (mostly while suffering through Agatha Christie's, The Mysterious Affair at Styles) and got to thinking about what some of these celebrities would drive. So, thanks in part to both our boredom and ADHD, we've come up with the list below featuring some of our favorite classic celebrities and what we think they would drive if they were alive today.

Bettie Page	James Dean	Bob Ross
Louis Armstrong	Steve McQueen	Tiny Tim
Lucille Ball	Frank Sinatra	Elvis Presley
Audrey Hepburn	Charlie Chaplin	Marlon Brando
Marilyn Monroe	John Wayne	Bruce Lee
George Burns	Harry Houdini	Vincent Price
Cesar Romero	Agatha Christie	Ray Charles

[inspired by our ADHD and famousdeaddb, clips via YouTube]

First, check out the clip from the documentary here (sorry, the Hulu embed wasn't working right), then come back to read through our sequential ordering of how the sub-prime mortgage crisis and the Carpocalypse actually occurred to see the link:

• Daniel Sadek owned Quick Loan Funding, a company providing mortgages to un-creditworthy buyers, exploding the sub-prime mortgage market to epic proportions.
• Sadek's company makes a lot of money through something called "Asset Securitization," whereby sub-primes are bundled up, repackaged and sold at credit ratings higher than the underlying mortgage credit worthiness as either "Mortgage Backed Securities" (MBS) or "Collateralized Debt Obligations" (CDOs).
• Sadek sinks profits into Redline movie, even letting Griffin crash Sadek's Enzo to promote it.
• Major banks and financial institutions that had borrowed and invested heavily in MBS and CDOs to re-purpose Sadek's mortgages face liquidity and solvency issues due to defaults of underlying mortgages within the securities.
• Banks stop loaning people money for buying cars because they're afraid they'll face a liquidity crisis.
• No loans means a "credit crunch" and thus, the Carpocalypse.

What do you mean our internal link scenario is highly dubious? It's so obvious. Just use the Commutative Property of mathematics and we swear it works — it's all Eddie Griffin's fault.

[CNBC via Hulu]

To be fair to Patrick, her choice of creepy seductress Jolie is really just an extension of Patrick's bizarre level of self/brand-awareness. Angelina is an action star and more age appropriate for the role of a 26-year-old than the 40-year-old Aniston. For marketing purposes it would be a much better fit. And what about America's sweetheart Mandy Moore? Too tall. We're imagining a similar sequence passed through Pitt's mind when he ditched the former "Friends" star for the one-woman African baby kidnapping gang.

Watch the video, shot by a group of Canadian bloggers, and you can see Patrick has already figured all of this out. The success of Danica Patrick has a lot to do with her being a really good driver wrapped in a fantastic marketing strategy. Fortunately, all of this is just hypothetical. Unless she dies in a horrible crash Patrick is only at made-for-TV movie level. For a feature studio film with a big star she'll have to win the Indy 500 or get killed by terrorists.

[MyHogtown]

We braved the surprisingly chilly Los Angeles evening last year to witness the taping of Fast And Furious, the fourth (and maybe not final) film in the The Fast And The Furious series. We were there the night of the famous Vin Diesel Chevelle wheelie, a shot which we can honestly say took forever to setup.

Dom's 1970 Charger R/T	BMW M5	Brian O'Conner's Subaru Impreza WRX	Nissan 240SX (Silvia S14)
Fenix's 1972 Gran Torino	Dom's 1970 Chevelle SS	Brian's R34 Skyline GT-R	Buick Grand National GNX
Ford RS200 v. Toyota AE86	Extra Cars	Saleen Vehicles	Random Fast And Furious Stills

The day's shooting took place at a parking garage in Los Angeles' Koreatown neighborhood that doubles as a driving range. The top level of the garage is covered with a 150-yard-long green beneath which countless hours and dollars worth of machines rest, safely out of the way of botched drives. Though quirky, the layout provides an ideal condition for shooting the cars with multiple heights and cameras available without the need for setting up cranes. Plus it just looks awesome.

We'll be honest, we're not the biggest fans of the Fast And The Furious film franchise. We enjoy car chases, crashes and mayhem as much as anyone but there's always been a sense that the franchise perhaps takes advantage of this. Justin Lin, director of the third film in the series, Tokyo Drift, and the latest film aknowledged this in an interview we did with him last year:

Justin Lin, Director
I think one of the knocks against the franchise was that it took and exploited cars. And made it look kind of cartooney."

Is this to happen again with the latest movie? Hard to say, but In our brief set visit we had a chance to converse with the cast, crew and extras over automotive topics as varied as the steps necessary to convert a Merkur XR4Ti Into a Ford Sierra and the different merits of the two generations of Toyota Tundras. We were pleased to find most of the people involved, at least on the car side, actually cared about vehicles (though tastes varied widely).

We spoke with Paul Walker, who plays the handsome and serious Brian O'Conner, about the film. This was mostly boring chatter about the movie-making process. Eventually we turned the conversation to cars and Walker lit-up. Apparently, Walker isn't of the get-rich-and-buy-a-Bentley variety of movie stars. In fact, he's of the not-enough-room-in-my-garage-for-all-the-toys variety a la Jay Leno.

In addition to a fairly predictable Ferrari 360, Walker boasted at the time of owning a classic late 1940's Chevy Woody and a Toyota Tundra with some modifications, which he loved to talk about. This isn't surprising, given the first car he bought with his money was a 1986 Ford Ranger. Most surprisingly, perhaps, is his admission he reads car forums and actually posts occasionally. Because he seemed like a genuinely nice guy we won't "out" the forums or his member name.

The day we visited there were lots of actors running around, including Vin Diesel, what we presume to be his muscles, both zooming to and fro on a pair of motorized scooters and matching fur coats (no joke), but the cars are the real stars for us. Nearly all of the two dozen cars stationed around the roof have their own stories and, luckily for us, the owners and keepers of the cars are around to share them.

One of the first things we noticed on set was the sheer number of Saleen vehicles, including a Ford GT. Thankfully, Molly Saleen was on hand to explain her family happily contributed a range of Saleens. Click on the Saleen GT above or click here for more info on those vehicles.

The other most prominent vehicle was the Pontiac Solstice. The owners of the cars, including the yellow Solstice used in almost every FAF marketing piece, claimed it was probably one of the biggest collections of performance-oriented Solstices in one place. They should know as all of them are heavily involved in the small, yet thriving, community. The best conversation was probably with an owner of the red Solstice, who has an eclectic garage that includes a Merkur XR4Ti converted into a Ford Sierra. You can learn more about these cars in the Extra Cars section.

The variety of cars, from a vintage Cougar to a new Porsche, underline an attempt by the film's creators to make the movie as inclusive as possible. This applies to the film as well, which you can see in the random fast and furious stills gallery. Note, especially, the switch from Hondas to the decidedly un-ricer-like Buick Grand National GNX.

After watching the Grand National abuse in pre-film teasers we're happy to report they did not, in fact, destroy any real GNXs. These cars are merely clones. As you can see in the photos above, there are multiples of most of the character cars. This includes the Brian's R34 Skyline GT-R, which has a 240SX-based clone seen next to the GT in the gallery. Why accidentally destroy a real R34 when you can destroy a fake one?

There's a lot of information in the galleries above and, we think, no real spoilers. But here's one piece of interesting background info. It was unseasonably cold while they shot the parking garage drag race scene but, in being true to the franchise's mise en scene, you can't have a drag race without scantily clad girls. Let's just say it was a good day to be a blanket. We're not sure if it'll show up in the final print but there was teeth chattering all around.

We can't lay a final verdict on the film until we see it and the dialogue we heard, while predictably comic book, gave no hint to the full tone of the film. We were actually surprised the trailer had such a Bourne Identity look to it. We can only hope the marriage of the best characters from the series (who doesn't love Vin Diesel?) to arguably the franchise's best director yields a not-too-serious car flick filled with a lot of metallic eye candy.

As we normally do when we're bored on a Saturday afternoon, we took a look around the auto forums for fun content. First things first was a trip over to our friends at VW Vortex where we found a delightfully mainstream almost-year-old thread that recently popped back atop the pecking order at The Car Lounge. Entitled "Celebrity Cars" — it appeared to be exactly what we were looking for — a by-no-means-comprehensive list of celebrities and the cars they drive. Excellent — something for us to write about. So we did some more pecking around and found a little site called "Celebrity Cars Blog." Even better!

So, without further ado, here's the best of what we found in an hour of searching. It's only 20, but it's a start. That's right, you heard us — a start. Now we need your help. If you're stuck inside tonight, we want to see what you're able to find. Wert said he'd help by hanging out in the comments below throughout the evening, so go ahead and have at it. Consider this like a "Bonus Question of the Day."

Kim Kardashian	Larry King	Adrian Grenier
Kendra Wilkinson	Audrina Patridge	Al Pacino
Ewan McGregor	Will.I.Am	Jennifer Garner
David Beckham	Miley Cyrus	Nicholas Cage
Conan O'Brien	Sienna Miller	Hayden Christensen
Larry David	Lauren Conrad	Simon Cowell
Daniel Craig	Jeremy Piven

[Inspiration from VWVortex]

Well, he couldn't just leave the Falcon sitting on the sidelines, no sense leaving it to rust as he'd already stayed true to it for 23 years. So Eric "Hoon-Hulk" Bana put together a documentary to provide the inside story of his dragon-like affection for the car, his mates and how he got it back together. For color commentary, Bana brought in the likes of Jeremy Clarkson, Jay Leno and yes, Dr. Phil. Why Dr. Phil? Well, when you've got a dragon in your pants for your car — even a monster of a beast like Bana's red XB, we're pretty sure Dr. Phil would have a problem with it. Silly, puny Dr. Phil, doesn't he know anything about cars? Bana smash!

But the cosmetics are still what makes this one-off car something special. Ford's turned this $80,000 Shelby into KITT thanks to a sweet-looking black-on-black paint job, the addition of 20" Shelby "Super Snake" wheels, 90% tinted windows all-around and of course, the Auto Indulgence 15" LED "Knight Rider" security scanner lightbar. Sure, it's all stuff you can buy off the rack — but when combined together, it makes this "King of the Road" look bad-ass.

But what's great about this customized Shelby is when the novelty of cruising around in KITT wears out, and you've turned the lightbar off, you remember you're still driving a Shelby GT500KR. That said, there's now even greater incentive to pull to a stop, shift into first and floor it. Because when you do, your world shrinks into a tunnel of motion with only a pinpoint of clarity ahead, wild-eyed narration provided by an unnatural banshee wail emanating from the supercharger. You watch, almost from outside of your body, as time dilates and you are no longer subject to the rules of physics. You feel as though this motor will pull the stars from their places in the heavens. And then the rev limiter brings it all back to reality.

A sideways grin spread across my face as my autonomic nervous system registers how close I just came to some form of fiery death. The manic rush, instead of acting like a deterrent, plays a powerful stimulant, and you do it again, and again, and again.

That's because the GT500KR is a much better car than its predecessor, the Mustang GT500. The GT500 is a mean and nasty car, operating at the limits of the chassis — it's twitchy, overpowered and hard to live with. Driving it always makes you feel like you're toeing the line of control, even when toting the groceries. To be perfectly honest, the notion of driving a GT500 with more horsepower was, at the outset, mildly terrifying. But the GT500KR is much more refined — the extra power is met with a much better suspension thanks to upgraded KR-only dampers, springs and shocks. All of it works together to provide a far more confident drive than the GT500. No more skipping across expansion joints at speed on a sweeping freeway corner, only planted, firm and predictable driving over the bumps and potholes of Michigan roads. But, then why the taken-to-the-limits feeling? It's because that added confidence is underscored with the notion that instead of being more controllable, the razors edge has just been raised to a new and more frightening level.

In spite of this knowledge, you smile like any man charming a Cobra; resigned to the danger, but addicted to the exhilaration of it. It doesn't matter if the car handles incredibly well for a solid axle design on a heavy car with monster mill, it doesn't matter if the interior has no upgrades over a standard 'Stang, it doesn't matter that the windows are tinted so dark you strain to see headlights in the night because none of that changes the mechanical the wail of obscenities the supercharger hurls at you as it takes over your world.

People point. They stare. The silent back and forth sweep of the red light draws the questions of curious passers-by. Camera phones are wielded, friends are called over and disbelief removed. But in the face of the crushing power of this car, the tight hold that childhood memories maintain over the aura of KITT shrink, and become insignificant as you pull runs — again, and again, and again. The show may be in need of some "Turbo Boost," but this GT500KR has all the boost we need.

Photo Credit: Alex C. Conley

BOND MOVIE ROLE FOR NEW FORD KA

COLOGNE, August 15, 2008 - The highly-anticipated new James Bond adventure, 'Quantum of Solace', will feature a cameo appearance from Ford's fresh-faced new model, the all-new Ford Ka.

Ford's cheeky new small car will make its screen debut alongside the film's beautiful but feisty leading lady, Olga Kurylenko. Kurylenko plays Camille, a woman with her own personal mission and who quickly becomes an unlikely ally for Bond.

The 'Quantum of Solace' Ka is unique with metallic gold paint and an exclusive exterior graphics and interior trim combination.

"The new Ka is the perfect match for the character of Camille - adventurous, individual and thoroughly modern," says Ford of Europe's Chief Operating Officer, Stephen Odell. "We are delighted that the launch of the film coincides with the launch of such a significant new model for Ford of Europe."

The special 'Quantum of Solace' Ka was created by Ford of Europe's Design team, in collaboration with the movie's Oscar ® award-winning production designer, Dennis Gassner. The Ka's cameo continues Ford of Europe's relationship with the James Bond films, following the debut appearance of the latest Ford Mondeo, in the 2006 blockbuster, 'Casino Royale'.

Twelve years after the original Ford Ka wowed customers with its modern spirit and what has proved to be a remarkably age-less design, its successor looks set to repeat its impact.

The new model retains all the qualities which made the Ka so popular - compact size, great looks, lively dynamics and fun personality - but presents them in a fresh new package. Further technical details of the new Ford Ka will be revealed closer to launch later in 2008.

'Quantum of Solace' is produced for EON Productions by Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli and distributed by Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Directed by Marc Forster, the film stars Daniel Craig as the legendary secret agent, James Bond and opens in the UK and France on October 31st, then elsewhere November 7th.

The all-new Ka enjoys the spotlight of its own at the 2008 Paris Motor Show, on October 2.

# # #

So this is how it happened, understeer into some moronically placed (or brilliantly, for you tin foil-hatters) concrete barriers. A terrible, and undignified way for any car to die, much less an exotic beauty like the Enzo. That's how the story starts out, and we'll let Mr. Groner retell the rest in his own words:

From February of 2008:
Here's the story: When the car got wrecked last March, I got a half a dozen calls from customers/friends asking me if I was going to buy the car? This is our business: We buy damaged high line cars. Not necessarily the celebrity cars, but they seem to own many of these type cars so it comes with the territory. My response to them at the time was "I doubt it since the whole world knows about the car." We were in contact with the proper people, but I really didn't think this car would happen. Then, late 2007, we got a call asking if we were interested in the Enzo? We headed to LA to inspect the car and if it was what we thought then the negotiations would begin. The car itself was not hurt and had a retail estimate to repair of $300k. So, the owner of the car already had that money and we had to come to an agreement on the car as-is. We did our negotiating over the phone through one of good friends in LA and a deal was reached. My guys left Houston one Monday afternoon with truck and trailer and were in LA with certified funds in hand on Wednesday. Thursday at noon Houston time I got a call from my guys telling me that the owner had changed his mind and we weren't getting the car. Needless to say I was not happy, but this guy had other cars that we were still negotiating to buy so I stayed clam. My guys dead headed back to Houston empty... A wasted week for us. 10 days later we got a call and the guy now wants to sell the car. This time the car has been moved to our LA contacts location and there's no "changed my mind" by the owner. The deal was done and the car was then shipped to Houston.

We normally sell our cars in their damaged state. But, this car is special and everything bolts together. There is no frame to straighten ... it bolts to the tub. Just buy it and you're done. So, we ordered the parts and that where we are right now. 95% of the parts are here and we ready to make this car whole again. "Save the Enzos" I am trying.... Just need a little help from our Italian friends that make the parts. Please hurry. We Americans have no patience.

Update on Aug 7, 2008
Done... Finally! Attached are some pictures of the finished product. If I had to do it over again I would sell the car in it's damaged state and not repair it. Not because it was difficult to repair, but the time waiting on the Italians to supply parts is just ridiculous. I guess they have better things to do then to help "save an Enzo". Now that's it's done and I have had the privilege to drive the auto, I will say oh my, what a car! A true race car in everything it does. One trip to the track and I might keep it. Nope, not my style. Up for sale. Not $500k cheaper then the others on the market, but a little less. After-all, it's got a story. A pretty cool story though.

Update: You can check out the car at Matt's sales site: Matthews-Auto.com

Top Five Famous Police Chases:

#5: The French Connection
This one makes the cut for nothing else if not innovation. Hack Man wasn't even chasing a car in the French connection's most famous scene, indeed he was after an elevated train carrying the sniper who tried to gun him down. The brilliant use of hand held second person camera work and bumper cams while driving through thick traffic make this one a brass balls special.

#4: Smokey And the Bandit
How can you not credit a movie at least in-part responsible for the CB Radio renaissance? Of all the flicks on the list, this one is practically a shoo-in, considering it's an entire movie dedicated to evading the fuzz — with five major chase scenes as a result. If you don't want to grow a mustache after watching this movie, you might be a communist.

#3: Blues Brothers
This icon of American college cinema is both brilliant in it's scope and magical in its wanton destruction.

#2: Bullitt
Bullitt is a much-lauded car chase wrapped in a gritty, 60's era cop drama. The epic battle between Mustang and Charger has been committed to memory for a great many car dorks. Hell, it even got us all together for a night out in Highland Park. The only thing holding this one back is the well documented, and well loved, inconsistencies in it's production. Some love it for those post production snafu's while other call it shoddy attention to detail. we just love all that tire squealing goodness topped with a dollop of burning bad guy.

#1: Gone In Sixty Seconds
There's something to be said about a flick which is basically a flimsy plot used to frame the scene for a forty minute police chase. Our hero dons the miter of the original Eleanor, a 1973 Ford Mustang Mach 1, which is used to evade, confound, embarrass and destroy an entire squad's worth of patrol cars. We've selected our favorite clip of the movie, the dirty, dusty construction chase. Today it would be a brilliant product placement opportunity for Fram air filters. In our opinion, this is both brilliantly executed and fiendishly simple, a hallmark of excellent chase-making.

Five Great Chases That Aren't As Obvious

#5: Beverly Hills Cop
The level of destructive power in a twin-trailer semi truck is hard to imagine until you see this cab-over ploughing through the streets of Detroit circa 1984. Huge props for actually filming on those streets (it was a dangerous place at the time) and even today we recognize some of the old mansions they drive past, though now they're rebuilt and occupied, instead of hollowed out drug dens. (Sorry about the long, foreign dubbed clip, it's amazingly hard piece of hosted film to find)

#4: The Bourne Identity
Take a Mini, some French Police in cars and on motorcycles, shake vigorously with a marked spy, and serve with a rousing soundtrack. The Bourne Identity is a good ride start to finish, but the chase sequence here made everyone's eyes pop when it first flitted cross the silver screen. Tight European streets, death defying dances through traffic and damn impressive driving make this one for the ages.

#3: Short Time
What's more dangerous than a cop with nothing to lose? One that gets rewarded if he dies on the job. Dabney Coleman plays a cop in this little known flick as a cop who thinks he's got a terminal illness, so he goes about attempting to kill himself off on the job, so his family gets a big fat pension and life insurance bonus. The ensuing suicidal police chase is both amusing and brilliantly filmed.

#2: The Seven-Ups
All right, fess up. In every police chase ever committed to film, a little (or even big) piece of you wanted to see the bad guys get away, to see the cop take the fall, and to see justice not served. Nothing quite says car chase like a giant Pontiac flying down the cramped streets of New York and actually getting air at times. Roy Scheider saddles up for a hair raising chase which end in an unexpected bone crushing finale.

#1: Dirty Mary Crazy Larry
This is the quintessential anti-hero police chase. Our robber heroes are chased over hill and dale by an angry back-country cop who can't quite chase down their bright green Dodge Charger, heck, even a helicopter can't stop em. Just as we think it's all over, random chance and poor driving habits snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Much of the cast from the original movie, and almost none of the cast (with the obvious exception of Paul Walker) from the second movie, return for this film. And they're all likely to get their own "character cars." More on this later. [USA Today]