Dodge Bumper Car

There are some truly awesome things that come up for sale ebay, some that take you back to when you were a kid like an old school plastic skateboards or BMX’s in blue and yellow (you know the ones).  But this takes you back to when you went to the fair coming to town was the highlight of the year and the bumper cars. Where else could you drive a car at you mate for a laugh (still love it today 20 years later). I also remember thinking, if only I could drive one of those on the road.

Capesthorne Hall Classic Car Show

I had this on the radar for the last week but hadn't planned on going until Sunday evening when I saw some pictures of that days show over on Retrobeutes. With rare cars a distinct possibility, weather looking good for at least the morning (not bad for a Bank Holiday Monday in the UK) and my little one suitably bribed with the promise of ice cream and sweets we loaded the Scirocco and made the hours’ drive over to the stunning Capesthorne Hall first thing in the morning. This was not only a place I’ve never been too but also a show I'd never been too so I was looking forward to it.

Turbo Interceptor/ Dodge M4S

In the world of car movies for me theres one that stands out, it started with a ball of light coming down from the sky over a middle state desert on to a long highway picking up speed. Then BAM it blasts in to a sleek black car with a mysterious helmeted driver stood next to it. The film The Wraith, the car the Turbo Interceptor. In my young shaver days this was the car film to have seen. Only a few years a go I deliberately went out to get it on DVD and to my surprise I wasn’t disappointed by the passage of time. Any way enough reminiscing although that’s what cars to, they hang on to a memory and take you back in a flash.

Looking at this car you’d instantly think with its sleek lines, lack of wings and air intakes, that it was made in the 90’s (thinking Jaguar XJ220, Honda NSX etc). Surprisingly it was made in the 1986 years before conservative supercar design. This was still a time of the full body kitted Lamborghini Countach and Ferrari Tessarossa.

You’d also expect that this was designed and built for the movie, but it wasn’t. It was originally built for a single purpose, that though being a pace car for sprint races by Chrysler in collaboration with PPG Chemicals in 1983/4. So it would actually drive as well as it looked. Packing 400bhp from its mid mounted Mopar 2.2ltr 4 cylinder engine. The body work was tweaked for the film but in the original (although not by much) promo pictures for the film the Chrysler badge can be seen on the front of the car. This was filled in for the film its self. The car its self cost $1.5m. 6 were built for the film 4 prop cars and 2 for close up shots. Its unclear how many actually cars were built though, numbers range from a single car to upto 4.

The Dodge M4S-


Promo picture, with Chrysler badge-


I love this car especially the fact that at the time it was something so different and even today its still jaw dropping. To put it in perspective the film also featured the Dodge Daytona which at the time still hadn’t been released for sale and was standard 80’s sports car fodder of the time ie angles.











For more information-

http://www.thewraithcar.com/


http://moviemopars.tvheaven.com/wraith/car.html